The country’s regulator found that the deal “does not raise substantial public interest concerns”. It is becoming time for regulators around the world to make a decision on Microsoft’s $ 69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
While we expect the UK, EU and US to all make firm decisions in the coming weeks, the South African Competition Commission has released a report to announce that it approves the deal.
The document tells us that the Commission “has determined that it is unlikely that the proposed transaction will result in significant foreclosure concerns, as the parties do not have the opportunity and incentive to exclude competing game distributors, in particular Sony (Playstation) and Nintendo (Switch). In addition, the merging parties have made commitments to continue supplying Call of Duty games to other console manufacturers.”
The report also concludes: “the Commission has concluded that the proposed transaction is unlikely to result in a substantial prevention or reduction of competition in relevant markets. The Commission has also found that the proposed transaction does not give rise to serious objections of general interest.”
So that’s another region that’s fine with Microsoft blowing a fortune to take over the games giant. Now all eyes are on the UK, EU and US again.
