The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a last-minute attempt to stop Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of “Call of Duty” and “Candy Crush” maker Activision Blizzard – knocking down the last U.S. legal challenge in the way of the deal’s closing, according to Variety.
A group of gamers filed for an emergency injunction on Monday to halt the merger, claiming that Microsoft’s resulting power in the game industry would result in consumer harms. However, Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan turned down the request earlier today.
This all follows on from events on Friday in which the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request by the Federal Trade Commission to stop the merger.
On Sunday, Microsoft announced a binding deal with Sony to keep “Call of Duty” on PlayStation platforms for ten years, which followed on from a similar deal with Nintendo and NVIDIA.
Microsoft and Activision Blizzard aren’t likely to close the deal by the merger agreement’s original deadline at the end of today as final regulatory approval in the U.K. is being sought with the CMA extending its final decision deadline until August 29th.
Reuters reports that Microsoft has been pushing for a contract extension to ward off potential interest in Activision from other suitors.
