Microsoft's deal to buy Activision Blizzard has been approved by another global regulatory body. South Africa's Competition Commission announced on April 17 that Microsoft has unconditional approval to close the deal through its sub-division in the country called Anchorage. This follows approvals of the deal in Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Serbia, Chile, and Japan.
In a media release, the Competition Commission said it has no significant concerns regarding the potential for Microsoft to make Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox. The main reason, the commission said, was because Microsoft does not have "the ability and incentive" to do so. Microsoft has argued over and over that it would make no financial sense to take Call of Duty off PlayStation because the playerbase on Sony's console is so large.
The commission added that Microsoft has already taken steps and signed deals to make sure Call of Duty continues to release on other console platforms in the future. Microsoft and Nintendo agreed to a 10-year deal for Call of Duty, for example. The same offer has been made to Sony, but the company--which has been one of the loudest critics of the deal--has not yet responded.
"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," it said.
One of the key concerns raised by regulators in the UK has been around cloud gaming and Microsoft's potential ability to create unfair business conditions if the Activision Blizzard buyout is allowed to go through. South Africa's statement doesn't mention cloud gaming once.
The United States and the UK have yet to approve Microsoft's proposed deal to buy Activision Blizzard. The UK's Competition & Markets Authority will hand down its ruling by April 26. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission is suing Microsoft to try to block the deal. Microsoft responded by saying that it gave peace a chance and will now fight the US government in the courts just like it did years ago with the United States v. Microsoft Corp. lawsuit regarding personal computers. In that case, Microsoft and the government eventually settled, but it remains to be seen how things will play out this time with the Activision Blizzard deal.
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