Kevin Cramer, North Dakota Republican, said after 18 months of litigation over the deal, it was “time to move on.” The Lexington Institute, a Washington think tank, tweeted that the ruling was “another big, big loss for the overly aggressive, tech-hating FTC.” “ FTC should protect consumers not play left wing politics with gov power and cash,” he tweeted. Kahn at the FTC “keeps filing shoddy, extra legal attacks on American companies.” “A fair and neutral court has reached the correct conclusion about Activision Blizzard’s merger with Microsoft based on facts and the law,” she said.Ĭonservative anti-tax figure Grover Norquist said Ms. Lulu Cheng Meservey, chief communications officer and executive vice president of Activision Blizzard, said Judge Corley’s ruling “rejects the FTC’s ideologically driven attempt to prevent a deal that benefits gamers and allows more competition instead of protecting the market leader.”

Sales in the gaming market are expected to increase by 36% over the next four years to $321 billion, according to a PwC estimate. Microsoft President Brad Smith said the company was “grateful” for the “quick and thorough” decision. “In the coming days we’ll be announcing our next step to continue our fight to preserve competition and protect consumers.”

“We are disappointed in this outcome given the clear threat this merger poses to open competition in cloud gaming, subscription services and consoles,” said FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar.

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