South Africa Clears Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

South Africa is cool with Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

The country’s Competition Commission released a statement that said there’s no concerns regarding the $69 billion deal, nor Call of Duty becoming an Xbox exclusive. “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 (PlayStation) and Nintendo (Switch).”

On the grounds that Call of Duty is made available to other platforms, the Commission finds the merger “unlikely to result in a substantial prevention or lessening of competition in any relevant markets.” Also, it “does not raise any substantial public interest concerns.”

South Africa joins Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Serbia, Chile and Japan in markets that okayed the proposed transaction.

“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,” said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick in response.” We appreciate this additional affirmation from an important global regulator.”

Note: Activision Blizzard has had charges filed against them by the state of California for serious harassment allegations. CEO Bobby Kotick is alleged to have known about such actions within his company – and had separate allegations made against him in 2006 and 2007 – and in many employees' eyes failed to take adequate action. These allegations have all been denied by Activision Blizzard and the company points to additional diversity and inclusion training as past examples of taking the accusations seriously at the time they were made.