The Microsoft Activision Blizzard was approved today by the Competition Tribunal of South Africa, an approval that brings the company closer to acquiring the publisher of so many popular games.
Today, the aforementioned Competition Tribunal of South Africa confirmed on its official website that it has unconditionally approved Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Call of Duty publisher. The Tribunal's reasons for its decision will be revealed at a later time.
The Competition Tribunal (“Tribunal”) has unconditionally approved the proposed merger, which is a global transaction, whereby Anchorage Merger Sub Inc. (“Anchorage”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (“Microsoft”) intends to acquire Activision Blizzard, Inc. (“Activision”).
The Tribunal’s reasons for its decision will be issued in due course.
While the deal is getting approved by more and more regulators, the acquisition is far from being a done deal as of now. The UK's CMA blocked the acquisition due to concerns regarding the cloud gaming market, as Activision Blizzard releases some of the most popular gaming franchises ever and would have no reason to release them for cloud gaming services other than Microsoft's, potentially harming competition.
The Microsoft Activision Blizzard deal was also temporarily blocked last month following a motion from the FTC in the United States. With the trial still ongoing, it will be a while until this story will finally come to an end.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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