Ninth Circuit Court Denies FTC’s Latest Appeal in Microsoft–Activision Blizzard Deal

The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has denied the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) appeal regarding Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. According to the court, the federal judge was right to reject the FTC’s attempt to block the deal in 2023.

The court found that the FTC’s appeal failed to explain how the acquisition would diminish competition in the video game industry. The FTC’s first argument centered around the possibility of Microsoft making Call of Duty, one of the biggest video games in the world, exclusive to Xbox, which would prevent PlayStation gamers from playing the game.

The court found that the evidence for this claim was weak, as Microsoft’s action has been consistent in making Call of Duty available on PlayStation. Additionally, the court document mentioned, “In particular, the district court noted that Microsoft’s internal model evaluating the value of the Activision Blizzard purchase affirmatively ‘relie[d] on PlayStation sales and other non-Microsoft platforms post-acquisition’ and did ‘not rely on increased sales of Xbox consoles for any reason, let alone caused by foreclosing Call of Duty from PlayStation.’”

The FTC’s second claim shed light on the possibility of Microsoft releasing inferior versions of Call of Duty to other platforms. The court rejected this, saying that Microsoft has never been found to engage in such practices, and recalled Sony’s CEO testifying that “publishers have every incentive to provide an equal gaming experience or as good a gaming experience as possible on all platforms.”

The final claim was about Microsoft’s possibility of making Activision Blizzard games, which are high-earning and exclusive to the Xbox. The court document simply states, “It is in the nature of intellectual property rights that the holder ultimately has exclusive control over them.”

Microsoft’s intention to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion was announced in January 2022. The FTC tried to block the deal, citing that, should this acquisition go through, the video game industry would significantly see less competition. The deal was finalized in October 2025 after California Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley denied the FTC’s injunction request. This acquisition is currently the largest video game company acquisition in history. The total cost of the deal amounted to $75.4 billion.