Microsoft prevailed in the Federal Trade Commission’s challenge to its Activision Blizzard acquisition, but the chronology matters: the deal closed on October 13, 2023, the Ninth Circuit upheld a ruling allowing it to proceed on May 7, 2025, and the FTC dismissed its remaining administrative complaint on May 22, 2025. The FTC lists the matter as closed. The result ends this FTC case; it does not mean the acquisition was free of regulatory conditions.
What the FTC’s withdrawal means
The FTC’s formal action was an order dismissing its administrative complaint, not an order undoing or approving the acquisition. The Commission said the public interest was best served by ending the administrative litigation after the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision. The FTC case page now lists the matter as closed, and the dismissal order records the agency’s action.
That closes this FTC challenge. It is not a new finding that the merger could never harm competition, nor does it establish that every Activision Blizzard game must remain available on every platform indefinitely.
Why the FTC tried to block the acquisition
The FTC argued that Microsoft’s ownership of Activision Blizzard could give it an incentive to use valuable games to strengthen Xbox, Xbox Game Pass, and Xbox Cloud Gaming at the expense of rivals. Its concerns spanned console gaming, multi-game subscriptions, and cloud gaming. The agency highlighted franchises including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch in its announcement of the challenge.
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The FTC brought two related proceedings, which are easy to conflate:
- Federal court: The FTC sought a preliminary injunction to stop Microsoft from closing the deal while the agency’s administrative case proceeded.
- Administrative case: The FTC separately filed a complaint seeking to block the merger through its internal adjudication process.
How Microsoft prevailed in the U.S. case
The district court refused to block closing
On July 10, 2023, the district court denied the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction. The court concluded that, at that stage, the FTC had not shown that the merger would substantially lessen competition in the relevant video-game library-subscription and cloud-gaming markets. That was a decision about whether the FTC had met the legal standard for temporarily stopping the transaction—not a universal determination that every possible competitive concern was impossible. The Ninth Circuit opinion recounts the lower-court proceedings.
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The Ninth Circuit affirmed
The FTC appealed on July 12, 2023. On May 7, 2025, the Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s ruling. More precisely, the appeals court upheld the denial of the FTC’s request to block the acquisition; it did not issue a regulatory approval of the merger.
The FTC dismissed its remaining complaint
On May 22, 2025, after the appellate ruling, the FTC dismissed its administrative complaint, citing the public interest. The sequence was an appellate loss followed by dismissal of the remaining administrative challenge—not a withdrawal that kept the acquisition from closing.
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The acquisition had already closed
Microsoft completed its approximately $69 billion acquisition on October 13, 2023, nearly two years before the FTC dismissed its administrative case. Microsoft’s completion announcement welcomed Activision Blizzard King into Microsoft Gaming.
The deal could close after the district court declined to issue an injunction. A separate U.K. review also shaped the transaction: the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) had blocked the original version over cloud-gaming concerns, then accepted a restructured deal involving Ubisoft. The U.S. FTC proceedings and U.K. CMA review were distinct legal processes, and acceptance of the modified transaction by the CMA did not clear the original, unmodified proposal.
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What the Ubisoft cloud-gaming arrangement changed
Under the restructured transaction, Ubisoft received specified Activision cloud-streaming rights outside the European Economic Area (EEA). The arrangement covers current games and future Activision PC and console games released during the following 15 years. In those non-EEA markets, Microsoft does not exclusively control the specified cloud-streaming rights: Ubisoft is the relevant rights holder for licensing under the arrangement. The EEA is subject to separate European Commission commitments, so this description should not be extended to that region.
The CMA accepted the restructured transaction on October 13, 2023, the day Microsoft completed the acquisition. The agency described how the changes addressed its cloud-gaming concerns in its announcement; details of the rights and their scope appear in the CMA final decision.
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Key dates in the FTC fight
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| January 18, 2022 | Microsoft announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard. |
| December 8, 2022 | The FTC filed its administrative complaint seeking to block the acquisition. |
| June 12, 2023 | FTC staff asked a federal district court to stop Microsoft from closing while the administrative case proceeded. |
| July 10, 2023 | The district court denied the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction. |
| July 12, 2023 | The FTC noticed an appeal. |
| August 21, 2023 | Microsoft announced a restructuring that transferred specified cloud-streaming rights to Ubisoft. |
| October 13, 2023 | The CMA accepted the restructured transaction, and Microsoft completed the acquisition. |
| May 7, 2025 | The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision. |
| May 22, 2025 | The FTC dismissed its administrative complaint. |
What this means for gamers and investors
Ownership and platform availability are different questions
Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard, but that fact alone does not determine where each game will be sold, included in a subscription, or offered for streaming. Access depends on the title, platform, region, licensing arrangements, and any applicable commitments. The FTC’s case closure is not a promise that every game will remain on PlayStation or any other platform forever.
Cloud distribution remains subject to the restructured rights
For specified cloud-streaming rights outside the EEA, Ubisoft’s licensing role remains part of the arrangement that addressed the CMA’s concerns. This is distinct from Microsoft’s ownership of the publisher and its decisions about its own consoles or subscription catalog. Ubisoft’s consumer subscription service should not be confused with its role as recipient of the specified rights.
The ruling does not settle the competition debate
The outcome shows that the FTC did not obtain the injunction it sought and that the Ninth Circuit upheld that result. It does not resolve every debate about the acquisition’s market effects or establish how another transaction would be assessed. The FTC’s decision to dismiss its complaint should not be described as an admission that the merger was harmless.
Why the distinction matters
This case illustrates how merger litigation can turn on timing and the remedy requested. The FTC sought to prevent closing while its administrative case advanced; once the district court denied an injunction and the acquisition later closed, the appellate fight concerned whether that denial should stand. The U.K. regulator addressed a different review through a modified transaction focused on cloud rights. The two regulators’ outcomes were not interchangeable.
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