A US federal court temporarily blocks Microsoft’s purchase agreement for Activision Blizzard

June 14 (Portaltic/EP) –

A US federal court has issued a temporary restraining order blocking Microsoft from closing the Activision Blizzard purchase deal, valued at $68.7 billion (around 63,575 million euros at the current exchange rate).

The setbacks in the possible acquisition of the developer by the Xbox manufacturer have occurred since its interest in the developer became known, in January 2022, when Sony suggested that, if this purchase took place, it would be possible that its main competitor exercised a monopoly in the video game sector.

From then on, various international organizations began to study the case to find out what the real consequences of this purchase could be and its impact on other platform manufacturersas is the case of the Japanese company.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is the national consumer protection agency of the United States, filed a lawsuit to block this economic transaction in December of last year.

This blocking lawsuit will be resolved in a trial scheduled for August 2, but it does not prevent Microsoft and Activision Blizzard – whose contract requires that the acquisition close on July 18 – close an agreement prior to that date.

To prevent this, this Monday the FTC asked the US courts to block this agreement between the Xbox manufacturer and the Call Of Duty developer with a temporary restraining order, as reported by The Verge.

Now, Financial Times has announced that a federal judge has admitted the FTC’s request and has temporarily blocked the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, pending an evidentiary hearing scheduled for days June 22 and 23, according to concrete Bloomberg.