After pretty much the gaming community was on their computer, smartphones or whenever you follow your social media since this Friday as it was speculated that a decision for a Preliminary Injunction against Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard was due.

The day and the decision were delivered and FTC got the Preliminary Injunction denied.

In other words, Microsoft can resume the speculated plans to go and close the transaction regardless the CMA rejection at The United Kingdom, which observer are already calling the plan as risky because it will force all Activision Blizzard’s UK interest to be licensed to a third party so it can avoid affecting UK gamers with interest on Call Of Duty, World Of Warcraft, Diablo, etc.

Be aware, FTC still got choices to continue despite a deal closure like a major lawsuit to disrupt the acquisition or looking to make a fine to Microsoft, but FTC already tried this on the past Meta acquisition of a VR studio for Oculus so, chances are low for FTC to succeed in a short-term of time.

You can read the complete ruling here (via FOSSPatents), but the TLDR is that the reach of the court was narrowed when Microsoft already did the homework of minimizing the unfair impact of competition with the multiple 10 year deals of Call Of Duty and other Activision Blizzard games available on other platforms, including Nintendo.

FTC did not not show a likelihood it will prevail and Judge called this transaction a Vertical Merger which is a pretty big boogeyman historically to the FTC.

Vertical Merger pretty much are companies that are going to merger BUT THEY ARE NOT NECESSARILY COMPETITORS IN A SAME MARKET and this was how AT&T actually could pull off buying WarnerMedia some years ago despite the machinery of the DOJ against it.

Microsoft reacted via Phil Spencer on Twitter saying:

“We're grateful to the court for swiftly deciding in our favor. The evidence showed the Activision Blizzard deal is good for the industry and the FTC’s claims about console switching, multi-game subscription services, and cloud don’t reflect the realities of the gaming market.

Since we first announced this deal, our commitment to bringing more games to more people on more devices has only grown. We’ve signed multiple agreements to make Activision Blizzard’s games, Xbox first party games and Game Pass all available to more players than they are today.

We know that players around the world have been watching this case closely and I’m proud of our efforts to expand player access and choice throughout this journey. ”

It remains to see what is the next move of the FTC, but with this decision and a strong opinion from Judge Corley, I see it difficult FTC pressing on with other issue including its chief Lina Khan being called out from Washington DC and her performance going to be heavily questioned (not exclusively for the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard saga).