Activision Blizzard and Microsoft Merger Approved by South Africa

Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition is still ongoing sixteen months after it was originally announced, and several countries have had to voice their approval or denial of the upcoming merger. By this point, Microsoft’s seen opposition from several countries, including the United Kingdom, support from others like Brazil, and multiple countries stating that the acquisition wouldn’t cause substantial harm to competition.

Earlier today, another country expressed its approval of the almost year-and-a-half merger process: South Africa. Their Competition Commission has gone on record and released a statement to the Competition Tribunal (a company based in Canada), which reads as follows:

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.

For what it’s worth, a country like South Africa wouldn’t have as significant an impact as the EU approving the deal, but it’s a small victory for Microsoft nonetheless. Meanwhile, in the midst of everything with the merger going on, Microsoft has signed multiple deals to bring Call of Duty and other titles to various other platforms, including Nintendo (who hasn’t seen the series in any capacity since Ghosts back in 2013). Considering it’s been almost a decade since Nintendo got a new Call of Duty, it’s certainly notable for them.

Others that have seen these binding contracts from Microsoft and its trend of bringing Activision Blizzard content to other platforms include internet providers like EE and cloud gaming services such as Ubitus, all in the past couple of months. It’s pretty likely that before long, other services and providers can be sources of Xbox and Activision titles, but we’re not sure yet. This story is currently developing, and we’ll provide more updates where available.

Written by Ule Lopez