Microsoft's appeal against British antitrust authorities blocking its acquisition of Activision Blizzard is scheduled to open in July.

CTOnews.com, May 31 (Xinhua) Microsoft's plan to buy game giant Activision Blizzard for $69 billion was blocked by the UK's Competition and Market Authority (CMA), and CMA believes the deal will have a negative impact on the emerging cloud gaming market. Microsoft disagreed and filed a formal appeal to the British Competition Court of Appeal (CAT) last week. Judge Marcus Smith scheduled a hearing for the appeal at a case management meeting on Tuesday, scheduled for late July.

Smith said that the hearing on the substance of the appeal will be held within two weeks starting on July 24, and that he does not want it to take up a full 10 days. He hopes that all parties will make more oral statements.

Microsoft wants the hearing to take place as soon as possible, but CMA wants to postpone the date to give it more time to prepare. "there are a number of flaws in CMA's decision, including an overestimation of the role of cloud games in the gaming market and our position in it, and their unwillingness to consider solutions that are widely supported by the industry and the public," Microsoft said in a statement last week.

CTOnews.com previously reported that the controversial deal had been approved in nearly 40 countries, including the European Union and, more recently, South Korea. However, the deal also faces legal challenges in the United States, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has sued Microsoft in an attempt to block the acquisition on the grounds of competition issues.