In a small win for Microsoft, the company’s contentious acquisition of Call of Duty, sorry, Activision Blizzard, has been fully approved in South Africa by the Competition Commission.
For those of you who have missed this entire saga, Microsoft is currently embroiled in what will be the technology industry’s biggest-ever deal to purchase Activision Blizzard, the company responsible for Call of Duty and other games that neither Microsoft nor Sony seems to care about
Microsoft getting approval for the deal in South Africa isn’t the most significant win, as being blocked here would have been unlikely to throw a cog in the wheel. However, it is still a victory non the less and will surely count as Microsoft fights to convince the other regulators who are looking into the deal.
Yesterday the South African Competition Commission said it had recommended to the Competition Tribunal that the deal proceeds without any attached condition. South Africa joins the ranks of Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Chile, Serbia and Japan, who have also given the go-ahead.
Microsoft announced the $69 billion acquisition last January and has struggled to convince regulators to approve the transaction. Alongside the approval, the Competition Commission released this statement:
“The primary competition concern in this transaction arose from the concern that Microsoft may, post-merger, restrict the distribution of Call of Duty to the Microsoft console, Xbox, or make Call of Duty available on terms that exclude or undermine the ability of other console manufacturers to compete.
The commission found that the proposed transaction is unlikely to result in significant foreclosure concerns as the parties do not have the ability and incentive to foreclose competing game distributors, particularly Sony and Nintendo. Furthermore, the merging parties have made undertakings to continue supplying Call of Duty games to other console manufacturers.
Therefore, the commission found that the proposed transaction is unlikely to result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition in any relevant markets. The commission further found that the proposed transaction does not raise any substantial public interest concerns.”
What do you think about this latest update in the seemingly never-ending drama? Let us know in the comments.