Breaking: The FTC Appeals Decision in Recent Trial Against Xbox

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed an appeal challenging the recent verdict from the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

The trial, in which Jacqueline Scott Corley ruled in favor of Microsoft, was held last month. Judge Corley issued a decision this week denying the FTC’s request for a preliminary injunction regarding Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, noting that the FTC, among other things, failed to prove that the deal would be anti-competitive.

Specifically, Judge Corley wrote in her decision that “the FTC has not identified a single document which contradicts Microsoft’s publicly-stated commitment to make Call of Duty available on PlayStation (and Nintendo Switch).”

The appeal is not surprising, as the Federal Trade Commission has expressed its disappointment in the decision, and a report from Bloomberg a day after the verdict revealed that the agency was “leaning toward” filing an appeal.

The appeal will attempt to win a preliminary injunction blocking the Activision Blizzard merger with Xbox ahead of a scheduled trial in August. The deal is currently scheduled to be completed on July 18.

If the deal is not completed by that date, Xbox will be forced to pay $3 billion to Activision Blizzzard and the merger will potentially be opened to renegotiation. We recently spoke to analysts who expressed confidence that the deal will still go through. However, the FTC still has a few more options at its disposal, including the appeal.

Elsewhere, Xbox is in the process of appealing the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority’s decision to block the Activision Blizzard deal earlier this year.

Should the $68.7 billion deal go through, it will give Xbox ownership of multiple enormous franchises, including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and more. You can read more about the FTC trial right here.

Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.