The US Federal Trade Commission has dropped its complaint against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
On May 22, 2025, the FTC issued an order dismissing its case after it lost its appeal against Microsoft earlier this month.
“The commission has determined that the public interest is best served by dismissing the administrative litigation of the case,” it said. “Accordingly, it is hereby ordered that the complaint in this matter be, and hereby is, dismissed.”
In response, Microsoft president Brad Smith described the decision as a “victory for players” on social media.
“Today’s decision is a victory for players across the country and for common sense in Washington D.C.,” Smith wrote. “We are grateful for the FTC for today’s announcement.”
Microsoft finalised its deal to acquire Activision Blizzard in January 2022 for $68.7 billion. The FTC subsequently attempted to block the merger, believing it would cause a threat to competition in cloud gaming, subscription services, and exclusive first-party titles.
This was denied, and in turn the FTC submitted a preliminary injunction – which was also denied.
On May 8, 2025, the 9th Circuit US Court of Appeals threw out the FTC’s challenge against the Microsoft Activision merger.
“The panel held that the district court applied the correct legal standards and did not abuse its discretion, or rely on clearly erroneous findings, in holding that the FTC failed to make a sufficient evidentiary showing to establish the requisite likelihood of success on the merits of its claim,” the court said.

THQ Nordic’s studio Campfire Cabal has returned after being shuttered in 2023.
Announcing the news in a blog post, the developer said it had “never shut down” despite closing as part of THQ Nordic’s parent company Embracer’s restructuring efforts.
“We are finally ready to reveal that Campfire Cabal was never shut down,” it said.
“Though we did have to say goodbye to many of our colleagues, the studio survived and a compact team continued the project we had started in 2022.”
This project is the next game in the Expedition series, and by the end of March 2025 it had been “given the green light to scale back up and transition into full production.”
Campfire Cabal also confirmed that it patched Expeditions: Rome in 2024 despite being “radio silent” since the studio’s initial closure.
“If you follow the insider news, you are aware that it’s been a rough couple of years in the game industry,” the developer continued. “Investment dried up, studios shut down, countless developers lost their jobs, and games were cancelled left and right.
“We are extremely grateful that there were people within the group who fought to keep us alive through the turmoil, and that we can now emerge on the other side with renewed vigour.”
THQ Nordic launched Campfire Cabal in September 2022, comprised of veterans from the Expeditions franchise.
By August 2023, Embracer informed THQ Nordic needed to close Campfire Cabal due to restructuring.
“We want to make it clear that our management and the rest of the team have not given up on Campfire Cabal yet, and neither have our friends at THQ Nordic,” the developer wrote on LinkedIn at the time.
“We are still pursuing our options for finding a good resolution to this situation, and THQ Nordic has been very supportive throughout this difficult time.”
It concluded: “This does not mean that it’s over for us as a studio. We’re extremely proud of how our team has come together to keep the campfire burning, and of the commitment and camaraderie everyone has demonstrated since the news broke.”

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