According to a person familiar with the case, the FTC is reportedly looking to appeal the judge's ruling in the Activision Blizzard case, which was decided in Xbox's favour yesterday.
Shortly after it was announced that all parties involved in the Activision Blizzard purchase were ready to seal the deal, the US FTC (Federal Trade Commission) attempted to block the deal from happening in the US, which led to months of debates in court between Microsoft, PlayStation, and all of the parties involved. Yesterday, it was confirmed that the FTC had surprisingly lost the battle in court despite the odds seeming stacked in its favour, which means that Microsoft can complete its merger with Activision Blizzard in the US.
This might have seemed like the end of things, at least for the US side of things, but that might not be the case after all. As reported by Bloomberg, the FTC is reportedly looking to appeal the judge's decision, according to an anonymous person involved with the case. This doesn't come as much of a surprise considering how much the FTC has been against the deal, but you'd think after losing the case that it might not be trying again.
According to Bloomberg, no final decision has been reached on whether the FTC will actually attempt to appeal the decision, but it would need to filed as soon as today, so it's possible that we'll be hearing about it again very soon. This is according to the anonymous person who is involved in the case, who asked not to be named as they weren't "authorised to discuss confidential deliberations".
When District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley ruled against the FTC yesterday, she extended a temporary restraining order that prevents Microsoft from closing the deal with Activision Blizzard until midnight on Friday. If that's the case, then the FTC needs to decide whether it's going to appeal the deal by then at the latest. In order to do this, the FTC would need to seek an emergency stay from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to extend the restraining order beyond Friday.
The FTC declined to comment on it potentially appealing the outcome, but even if it does it's not guaranteed to work. Stanford Law professor Doug Melamed spoke to Bloomberg and said that he thinks that it's "extremely unlikely" that the FTC could manage to persuade the Court of Appeals before the restraining order on the deal is up. If it's even going to attempt to appeal, then today is when it's going to need to start trying.