Microsoft beat the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on July 11 after California judge Jacqueline Scott Corley denied the latter’s preliminary injunction request, freeing Microsoft to go ahead with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Throughout the court’s 53-page document, though, only a few noticed how the FTC disregarded the Nintendo Switch as a competitor to Xbox and PlayStation. This comes in light of Microsoft’s promise to bring the Call of Duty franchise to the Nintendo Switch in order to prove it is not planning to make the CoD franchise an Xbox exclusive.
“The FTC’s primary market is the ‘high-performance console market’ which it defines as Xbox and PlayStation Generation 9 (Gen 9) consoles,” the court papers read. “The FTC seeks to limit the console market to Gen 9 consoles Xbox X/S and the PlayStation 5, and exclude the Nintendo Switch.”
The court papers show the FTC insisted the Nintendo Switch is an “improper substitute” for the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 because of its pricing, performance, and content.
Despite the FTC’s arguments to not include the Nintendo Switch as a part of the console market, the court ruling sided with Microsoft and agreed the merger will make Call of Duty titles more accessible for gamers.
“Before the merger, a consumer wanting to play a Call of Duty console game had to buy a PlayStation or an Xbox,” the court ruling reads. “After the merger, consumers can utilize the cloud to play on the device of choice, including, it is intended, on the Nintendo Switch. Perhaps bad for Sony. But good for Call of Duty gamers and future gamers.”
Related: Microsoft wins bid against FTC injunction to buy Activision Blizzard
Whether CoD will run properly on the Nintendo Switch should the acquisition of Activision by Microsoft goes through, it’s a totally different question. The Nintendo console clearly lacks hardware for those that wish to play AAA games, but that is a discussion for the future.
For now, several gamers from all around the world are happy that Microsoft’s acquisition process of Activision is coming. But Microsoft and Activision will still have to negotiate with the U.K.’s regulators to clear a path for the acquisition across the pond.
