South Korea is the latest country to approve Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition
Microsoft‘s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been approved by South Korea.
TheKorea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) says it has “unconditionally cleared” the deal, saying it has “no concerns” about the potential restriction of competition if Blizzard games are made exclusive.
The KFTC explained that in terms of South Korea specifically, the popularity of Activision Blizzard games is fairly low, and as such their importance to platform holders isn’t as important in that region.
“The combined market share of games developed and distributed by Microsoft and Blizzard is small, the popularity of Blizzard’s major games in Korea is not as high as overseas, and there are a number of popular game developers that competitors can deal with alternatively, so there is no possibility of foreclosure to exclude competing game service companies,” the KFTC’s statement reads.
“Even in the event of a blockade, the effect of converting competitors’ consumers to its service subscribers is minimal due to the low popularity of Blizzard’s games, and competitors have a significant market share, so there is no risk of exclusion from competition.”
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The KFTC also pointed out that it held discussions with its equivalent competition authorities in other countries to get their views on the deal, but noted that their decisions may differ because Activision Blizzard’s games are more important in those regions.
“Considering that this is a merger between global companies, the KFTC exchanged views with major overseas competition authorities through several video conferences and collected opinions from stakeholders, including competitors, to reach a final
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