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At least 88 openly LGBTQ soccer players are set to compete in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

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.

“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 wrote in the ruling. “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.”

Corley wrote that, as the acquisition “has been described as the largest in tech history,” it deserved to be scrutinized. She noted Microsoft’s commitment to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation and deals the company has to bring its games and Activision Blizzard titles to Nintendo Switch and cloud gaming services.

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 July 18th deadline. 

The companies may still choose to extend their acquisition agreement while they address a UK regulator’s attempt to stop the merger. However, the Competition and Markets Authority, which initially blocked the deal over cloud gaming concerns, said today it is now willing to consider proposals from Microsoft to satisfy its concerns. The CMA is the only other national antitrust regulator that has formally challenged the Activision takeover.

“After today’s court decision in the US, our focus now turns back to the UK. While we ultimately disagree with the CMA’s concerns, we are considering how the transaction might be modified in order to address those concerns in a way that is acceptable to the CMA,” Smith said. “In order to prioritize work on these proposals, Microsoft and Activision have agreed with the CMA that a stay of the litigation in the UK would be in the public interest and the parties have made a joint submission to the Competition Appeal Tribunal to this effect.”

“We’re optimistic that today’s ruling signals a path to full regulatory approval elsewhere around the globe, and we stand ready to work with UK regulators to address any remaining concerns so our merger can quickly close,” Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick wrote in an email to employees.

“We are disappointed in this outcome given the clear threat this merger poses to open competition in cloud gaming, subscription services and consoles,” FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar said in a statement. “In the coming days, we’ll be announcing our next step to continue our fight to preserve competition and protect consumers.”

The FTC sued to block the merger last December and a hearing in its administrative proceeding is set for August 2nd. If Microsoft and Activision Blizzard can’t seal the deal by their deadline, Microsoft will be on the hook for a $3 billion breakup fee unless the two sides renegotiate terms or extend their agreement. 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.”

Reports suggested that, despite the CMA blocking the acquisition, the companies would try to close it anyway and figure out a workaround to continue doing business in the UK. That prompted the FTC to request an injunction in the hopes of being able to “assess the legality of the proposed acquisition” in the August 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 her 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.

Update 7/11 1:08PM ET: Added the FTC’s statement.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-activision-acquisition-moves-ahead-as-judge-rejects-ftc-injunction-request-152845890.html?src=rss

Nothing has finally unveiled the Phone 2 after plenty of teasers, and it’s likely what you’re looking for if you thought the Phone 1 was underpowered — or if you simply couldn’t buy the earlier model where you live. The new device offers performance much closer to a flagship thanks to a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip versus the mid-tier 778G+ from last year’s hardware. While that’s still not cutting edge, the company claims it’s 80 percent faster. It enables 4K video at 60 frames per second, too, and RAW HDR photography captures eight frames (and thus more overall scene detail) instead of three frames like its predecessor.

Accordingly, Nothing says it has upgraded the Phone 2’s camera quality. The updated 50MP primary and 50MP ultra-wide rear cams now have 2X “super-res” digital zoom, object tracking and other imaging updates. The front camera, meanwhile, jumps from a 16MP sensor to 32MP. As with some competitors, there’s now an “Action Mode” to deliver extra-stable video recording.

There are some more conspicuous changes. You can expect a larger 6.7-inch, 120Hz LTPO OLED (if still 1080p) screen with a higher 1,600-nit peak brightness and thinner bezels. There’s a tapered “2.5D” glass back. And yes, the signature Glyph lighting on the back is more advanced. In addition to more LED segments, you can create different lighting sequences for every contact and notification type. You can also have persistent lights for must-see notifications, and some lights now double as progress trackers for delivery and ride hailing services like Uber.

Nothing

Software plays a considerably more important role. Where the first model only had a few modest customizations, Nothing OS 2.0 on the Phone 2 lets you tweak considerably more. You can now have multiple home screens with custom color themes, grid sizes and app labels. You’ll likewise find customizable folders, and a more advanced widget set includes shortcuts to quick settings. Those widgets are available on the lock screen as well.

The Phone 2 is billed as longer-lasting thanks to its 4,700mAh battery, and you’ll get a complete charge in 55 minutes. The 15W wireless charging and 5W reverse wireless charging aren’t surprising, but they’re not always present in this upper-midrange phone segment.

Crucially, the Nothing Phone 2 will be priced right when it arrives in North America. It will be available in the US and Canada on July 17th at 4AM Eastern starting at $599 (and an oddly high $929 CAD) for a version with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Pay $699 ($999 CAD) and you’ll get 12GB of RAM with 256GB of storage, while the top-end 12GB/512GB configuration sells for $799 ($1,099 CAD). Pre-orders are available now, and there will be early sales on July 13th through physical “Nothing Drops” in New York City (69 Gansevoort Street) and London (4 Peter Street).

There’s no mention of North American carrier deals as of this writing, so this sequel might not be as easy to find as more mainstream offerings. However, the launch in the region remains a big deal. The Phone 2 significantly expands the audience for Nothing’s handsets, and provides fresh competition to bang-for-the-buck phones like Google’s similarly-priced Pixel 7.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nothing-phone-2-comes-to-the-us-on-july-17th-for-599-153012499.html?src=rss

Discord, the go-to social network for notoriously level-headed and respectful gamers, wants to make its platform more kid friendly. The company unveiled the Family Center Tuesday, a new tool to help parents and guardians keep an eye on their child’s activity on the app.

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The Archive of Our Own—the largest digital library for fanfiction currently operating, and one of the highest-trafficked sites in the world—was temporarily unavailable after it experienced a large-scale distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack from a hacker group calling itself “Anonymous Sudan.” Ao3 reported the…

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