Opinion: Microsoft and Activision, will the US $68 billion deal go ahead?

A US court ruling makes Microsoft's £75bn takeover of video game maker Activision Blizzard more likely, Dr Joost Rietveld (UCL School of Management) comments on the stumbling blocks that lie ahead in negotiations with the UK regulator in The Conversation. Microsoft's proposed US$68 billion (£52 billion) acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard should be allowed to go ahead, according to a US federal judge. After five days of gruelling testimony, Judge Jacqueline Corley ruled the merger is unlikely to result in a substantial lessening of competition across the markets for video game consoles, multi-game subscription services and cloud streaming. The ruling paves the way for Microsoft to finally consummate the merger after nearly a year and a half of regulatory scrutiny. Yet US competition authority the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has taken the rare step of appealing the decision. With the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) also blocking the deal, it could still fail to conclude before an agreed completion deadline between the companies of July 18. So what are the main issues and how is this likely to play out? Microsoft owns the Xbox gaming console and makes games like Minecraft and Age of Empires.