The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced its intention to appeal a court ruling regarding Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The decision to appeal was revealed in a legal document filed with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of California on July 12. The FTC did not provide any additional information about its appeal.

This appeal comes at an unfortunate time as the deal must be completed by its deadline on July 18. If the deadline passes while the legal issues are unresolved, it remains to be seen whether the two companies will reach an agreement to extend it or if either of them will choose to abandon the acquisition altogether.

Microsoft wasted no time in stating that it will challenge the appeal once more information is available from the FTC. Brad Smith, the company’s president, expressed disappointment in the FTC’s decision to pursue a weak case and confirmed Microsoft’s opposition to any further efforts to delay the progress of the acquisition.