The UK government’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) request to postpone the appeal hearing for Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard was denied.
A filing from the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) declared the CMA had “ample time” to prepare for the hearing and confirmed it would take place from July 28 to August 4.
“The matter is significant and there is a large amount of material for any new counsel to digest, but we anticipate that a month allows ample time for that to happen — provided the CMA selects counsel with appropriate availability to prepare, especially given the support available from within the CMA and from its existing counsel team.”
The hearing’s verdict will prove crucial in Microsoft’s attempt to purchase Activision Blizzard, with the company attempting to appeal the CMA’s initial decision to block the merger.
CAT won’t decide if the merger should go through itself, but only judge if the CMA “has acted within the boundaries of its proper discretion in reaching its final decision”. If it rules in Microsoft’s favour, the case will be returned to the CMA to make the decision again.
The CMA’s initial verdict came after a several months-long inquiry, and while the government body said Call of Duty exclusivity wasn’t a concern, it was the potential impact on cloud gaming that eventually led it to saying no.
It’s been a busy couple of months for Microsoft as its court battle against the United States’ Federal Trade Commission has just ended. While a decision is yet to be made, the hearing saw industry leaders from PlayStation’s Jim Ryan to Xbox’s own Phil Spencer take to the stand to discuss the deal, revealing a ton of other titbits in the process.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
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