Looks like the fact that MS intends to keep Activision pretty much separate a la Zenimax have also played a role in this:

The FTC insists the difficulty in ordering post-acquisition divestiture is the public equity
that prevails. (Dkt. No. 291-2, FTC’s Findings and Conclusions at p. 194-195 ¶ 153.) But it does
not cite anything specific about this merger to support that assertion. It is a vertical acquisition.
Microsoft and Activision will act as parent and subsidiary. There is no planned dismantling of
operations, as in Warner. What exactly about the merger would make it difficult to order an
effective divestiture? The FTC does not say. Its argument, at bottom, is the equities always weigh
in favor of a preliminary injunction. But that argument ignores the law. So, the balance of
equities is a separate, independent reason the FTC’s motion must be denied.

What a complete and utter waste of everyone's time and taxpayer money by the FTC.

This has to be one of their most public losses too, Lol. So much attention was on this deal.

Yep, and it might not be over, the FTC will have to decide if it still tries to block/force divest through its own court, but they are not very likely to find any better argument in 1 month than they did in 1 year, I think they're gonna fold.

But if they continue, maybe something good would come out of it, the FTC might be bad in challenging MS but they sure are successful at exposing Sony.

Reason wins the day. And Spade takes his first of a few Ls, which is arguably even better

Losing the preliminary injunction basically guarantees they'll lose a permanent injunction because the preliminary injunction is a lower threshold to clear, the FTC's internal court has no power to make Microsoft do anything, it simply makes a suggestion which the FTC can chose to ignore, then they have to take it to the federal court for a permanent injunction.

Them losing the preliminary injunction means it's basically over for them, they'd be insane to carry on, they may appeal the decision but they only have 3 days instead of 5 to do that now and when they lost against Meta they decided against appealing so they may not even appeal either way.

Now we see if Microsoft was bluffing about the UK. Part of me hopes they were because it would be hilarious if they were bluffing and FTC fell for it. Imo, they will make a 3-4 month extension and go through the CAT, I don't see them closing over the UK, I think it was a bluff.

UK is now the only regulator in the world standing in the way of this acquisition.

Congrats MS fans and glad MS won. I'm mostly a Nintendo fan but competition it's a good thing. Hopefully Sony, the FTC and all the other bunch of clowns stop making a mockery out of themselves and just let the deal come through as it should.

And I'm looking forward to getting a Series X whenever they release that Perfect Dark reboot .. so no earlier than 2025 I guess :/

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick sent the following email to employees on Tuesday:

Today a U.S. federal judge ruled in our favor, denying the Federal Trade Commission’s attempt to block our merger with Microsoft.

We’re grateful to the court for the way this process was handled and the thoughtfulness of the decision. The U.S. joins the 38 countries where our deal can proceed—these decisions are based on facts and data that show our merger is good for players and for competition in the industry.

We’re optimistic that today’s ruling signals a path to full regulatory approval elsewhere around the globe, and we stand ready to work with UK regulators to address any remaining concerns so our merger can quickly close.

We’ll continue to keep you updated on our progress. Thank you for all you do for our players, for our company, and for each other. 

With gratitude,  

Bobby

A major milestone: Update on the Microsoft deal (activisionblizzard.com)