In 2023, we begin as we ended, with the conversation about Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard constantly on the table. The intense communication and significance of the deal put many industry segments on hold after the FTC revealed it intended to formally halt the acquisition with a complaint. To give you some context, the last thing we know is that the European body has itself corrected the FTC regarding Bethesda exclusives, one of the foundations of its case, saying that Microsoft does not had never assured that she would not do any exclusivity, but that she would deal with it on a case-by-case basis.
After that, we learned that the trial began today, January 3, in which the two parties, attorneys for Microsoft, the FTC, and the judge himself met electronically. And in this series of tweets, both revealed by journalist Leah Nylen, we can see that the FTC has no plans at this time to pursue the complaint in federal court. In fact, the FTC authorized its staff to enter into talks with Microsoft, but makes sure there is nothing important on the table right now.
FTC attorney James Weingarten said the agency has no plans “at this time” to file a case in federal court. The FTC cleared staff to engage in settlement talks, but “there are no substantive discussions at this time.”
— Leah AntiTrustButVer1fy Nylen (@leah_nylen) January 3, 2023
Microsoft expects the FTC to move forward
Following these statements, we were able to see the tweets launched by the famous idle slothin which he echoes Microsoft’s statements after this first hearing, in which they say that hope that the European Commission and the CMA will soon decide, possibly with regulations, and with these findings complete the response to the FTC’s ruling. But watch out for that second tweet:
Microsoft is ready to go to federal court.
“We assume the FTC would make the decision to go to federal court and we want to preload that evidentiary period.”
The termination date of the agreement is July 18, 2023.
Microsoft expects a resolution or decision in the “coming months”. pic.twitter.com/smISOMup0m
– Idle Sloth💙💛 (@IdleSloth84_) January 3, 2023
Basically it says that Microsoft assumes that the FTC will pursue the matter and take the complaint to federal court, for this reason they are already ready for this trial period, as they expect everything to be resolved within coming months, mainly because Activision Blizzard’s purchase agreement would end on July 18, 2023. If everything is not ready by then, another purchase contract will have to be drawn up or an extension negotiated. However, Today we must keep two keys: That the FTC is currently open to talks and that in this first contact nothing major has been decided or put on the table.
