US Supreme Court denies gamer lawsuit a block against Microsoft's Activision acquisition

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The US Supreme Court has turned down a request from a group of consumers trying to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The group of plaintiffs filed an emergency request on Saturday in an attempt to defeat the deal before the July 18 deadline. But a court filing, spotted by Seeking Alpha, shows this was rejected yesterday by Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.

The application for the injunction argued the deal should be temporarily blocked pending the Federal Trade Commission's appeal to the Ninth Circuit following its defeat in the US District Court. However, the Ninth Circuit denied this appeal on Saturday.

The same group of plaintiffs have previously tried to prevent Microsoft from acquiring Activision Blizzard, originally filing to sue the platform holder in December.

The case was dismissed in March by US District Court Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley – the same judge who ruled in Microsoft's favour in the case against the FTC – although the plaintiffs were given the chance to refine their lawsuit and resubmit.

The group did so in April, but were denied a preliminary injunction in May.

Microsoft and Activision were due to complete the merger yesterday, but the companies are reportedly negotiating an extension while the final regulatory hurdles are addressed.

The main block that remains is the UK's Competition and Markets Authority, which blocked the deal earlier this year, although the regulator is willing to make a final decision based on Microsoft's proposals of a modified deal before August 29.

You can keep track of the deal and the various obstacles it needs to overcome in our extensive primer.