The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has dropped its appeal against Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. 

In an order to dismiss its complaint – filed on Thursday of this week and reported by The Verge – the organisation said that it felt that the "public interest is best served" by throwing the case out. 

The decision was, unsurprisingly, celebrated by Microsoft vice chair and president Brad Smith, who took to Twitter to comment on the news. 

"Today’s decision is a victory for players across the country and for common sense in Washington DC," he wrote. "We are grateful to the FTC for today’s announcement." 

This filing was also made just a few weeks after the FTC lost an appeal to impose an injunction on Microsoft that would have stopped it completing its purchase. 

"The panel held that the district court applied the correct legal standards and did not abuse its discretion, or rely on clearly erroneous findings, in holding that the FTC failed to make a sufficient evidentiary showing to establish the requisite likelihood of success on the merits of its claim," Judge Daniel P Collins wrote at the time. 

"Thus, the FTC had not raised serious questions regarding whether the proposed merger was likely to substantially lessen competition in the relevant markets."