Microsoft Won Skirmish With Gamers Trying to Block Activision purchase

Although the case of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision seems to be slowly approaching finalization, the Redmond giant continues to face obstacles. This time their source was not any of the national and international regulators, but the gamers themselves.

• As reported by Reuters, last Tuesday a group of 10 people filed a private lawsuit in federal court of California, aimed at stopping the merger between Microsoft and Activision.

• In the document submitted to the judiciary the gamers argued that the transaction would violate the Antitrust Act, limiting competition in the gaming sector and thus harming the gaming community..

• However, these explantions have falled on deaf ears, as District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley decided to dismiss the players' lawsuit. She argued her decision on the grounds that the plaintiffs had not shown what the "irreparable harm" would consist of if the merger went through. In addition, ishe was unconvinced by claims that Microsoft would limit other platforms' access to titles such as Call of Duty.

Interestingly, this was not the first attempt by the aforementioned gamer group to block the merger. The first lawsuit was filed last December, but was dismissed for "lack of allegations." At that time, the judge gave them time to properly prepare the documents, which they did.

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And while it was hardly expected that a lawsuit by a few gamers could stall the $68.7 billion deal, the very fact that they went to so much trouble shows that not all game fans are in favor of Microsoft's purchase of Activision.

As a final reminder, the proposed Activision Blizzard deal was recently approved by China.

• Microsoft
• Activision Blizzard
• lawsuits and litigation
• mergers and acquisitions