An appeal from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to continue challenging Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard King (ABK) — the developer and publisher of numerous high-profile titles like Call of Duty and Diablo — for its Xbox gaming brand was denied by a federal appeals court on Wednesday morning.
It's the latest development in the Xbox vs FTC saga that's been ongoing since 2022, though Microsoft was able to formerly close the deal in late 2023 once a court ruled the regulator would not be granted a preliminary injunction to block the merger from happening while it pursued an internal challenge. The FTC vowed to continue challenging the deal right before it went through; this appeal, in which it was argued that the court's requirements for an injunction were too strict, is representative of that effort.
