Microsoft's Deal To Buy Activision Blizzard Fully Approved In South Africa Amid FTC Case In US
The deal has been unconditionally approved in another place.
By Eddie Makuch on
Microsoft's deal to buy Activision Blizzard has been approved by another global regulatory body. South Africa's Competition Commission announced on April 17 that Microsoft has unconditional approval to close the deal through its sub-division called Anchorage (as of July 3, the recommendation to approve the deal has now been fully completed). This follows approvals of the deal in Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Serbia, Chile, and Japan. All of this is happening against the backdrop of the ongoing Microsoft/Activision Blizzard merger lawsuit in the US involving the FTC.
«The South African Competition Commission recommended approval of our merger with Microsoft based on a thorough review of the facts about competition in the gaming industry. We appreciate this additional affirmation from an important global regulator,» Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said in a press statement.
The Competition Tribunal in South Africa has now «unconditionally approved» the merger. What happened here is the Competition Commission recommended that the Competition Tribunal approve the deal, and the Competition Tribunal has now done just that.
In a media release, the Competition Commission said it has no significant concerns regarding the potential for Microsoft to make Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox. The main reason, the commission said, was because Microsoft does not have «the ability and incentive» to do so. Microsoft has argued over and over that it would make no financial sense to take Call of Duty off PlayStation because the playerbase on Sony's console is so large.
The commission added that Microsoft has already taken steps and signed deals to make sure Call of Duty
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