A judge has rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s request for a preliminary injunction to prevent Microsoft from buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. Both Microsoft and Activision said they’d abandon the blockbuster merger if Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley granted the injunction.

“Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision has been described as the largest in tech history. It deserves scrutiny. That scrutiny has paid off: Microsoft has committed in writing, in public, and in court to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years on parity with Xbox,” Corley wrote in the ruling. “It made an agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Switch. And it entered several agreements to for the first time bring Activision’s content to several cloud gaming services.

“This Court’s responsibility in this case is narrow. It is to decide if, notwithstanding these current circumstances, the merger should be halted — perhaps even terminated — pending resolution of the FTC administrative action,” Corley continued. “For the reasons explained, the Court finds the FTC has not shown a likelihood it will prevail on its claim this particular vertical merger in this specific industry may substantially lessen competition. To the contrary, the record evidence points to more consumer access to Call of Duty and other Activision content. The motion for a preliminary injunction is therefore denied.”

“We’re grateful to the court in San Francisco for this quick and thorough decision and hope other jurisdictions will continue working towards a timely resolution.” Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith said. “As we’ve demonstrated consistently throughout this process, we are committed to working creatively and collaboratively to address regulatory concerns.”

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“Our merger will benefit consumers and workers. It will enable competition rather than allow entrenched market leaders to continue to dominate our rapidly growing industry.” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said in a statement.

The FTC sued to block the merger last December and a hearing in its administrative proceeding is set for August 2nd. However, the merger agreement has a deadline of July 18th, so Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are eager to close the deal by then. Otherwise, Microsoft will be on the hook for a $3 billion breakup fee to Activision unless the two sides are able to renegotiate terms. As such, they wanted the court to review the FTC’s injunction request swiftly.

The companies claimed that, if the preliminary injunction were granted, it would “effectively block the transaction because the FTC’s process is ‘glacial’ and one no substantial business transaction could ever survive.”

Along with the FTC, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is the only other national antitrust regulator that has formally challenged the Activision takeover. Microsoft and Activision are appealing the CMA’s decision to block the merger over cloud gaming concerns. The appeal process that can take several months. There are suggestions that the companies will lock in the deal regardless.

That prompted the FTC to request an injunction in the hopes of being able to “assess the legality of the proposed acquisition” in next month’s hearing before the deal closes. “Press reports began circulating suggesting that defendants were seriously contemplating closing the proposed acquisition despite the pending administrative litigation and the CMA orders,” the FTC’s request read. 

Corley issued a ruling following a five-day trial in June that saw all manner of juicy gaming industry secrets and emails between industry leaders laid bare for all to see. For one thing, we learned that MachineGames’ Indiana Jones project was originally going to be a multiplatform game, but after Microsoft bought ZeniMax, it made the title an Xbox console exclusive.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard aren’t entirely in the clear. Regulators in dozens of countries have cleared the deal, including in the European Union. However, the UK antitrust authority presented a significant road block (an appeal process will start with a hearing later this month) and the FTC’s administrative trial is still pending. However, the companies have cleared a major hurdle by winning this particular battle. 

Corley ruled that the FTC has until 11:59PM PT on July 14th to obtain a stay pending appeal from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to further delay the deal from closing. Otherwise, Microsoft and Activision will be able to close the deal, giving them just enough time to do so before their deadline. The companies may still choose to extend their acquisition agreement while the CMA appeal takes place in the hope of closing without having to resort to complex workarounds.

This story is developing, refresh for updates…