New Zealand’s regulator, the Commerce Commission, has given its approval to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The decision was made after considering the importance of Activision games like Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft to New Zealand gamers. The Commission also assessed whether Microsoft would hinder competition by preventing rivals such as Sony and NVIDIA from offering these games on consoles and cloud platforms.
In a statement, Microsoft expressed gratitude for the Commission’s thoughtful consideration and welcomed the unconditional clearance of the deal. The company believes that the acquisition will benefit the gaming industry and gamers as a whole. They also affirmed their commitment to working towards closing the deal.
Commerce Commission chair Dr. John Stall noted that while Activision games, particularly Call of Duty, are popular among New Zealand gamers, there is no evidence to suggest that they are essential for competing with Microsoft in the country.
Microsoft and Activision recently agreed to extend their merger agreement until October 18, 2023, after the initial deadline expired. The transaction has already received approval from the European Commission and Microsoft won a court case in the United States against antitrust regulator, the Federal Trade Commission.
With the approval from New Zealand, Microsoft is now cleared to proceed with the acquisition in 41 countries. However, there are still some outstanding concerns to address. Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, stated on Twitter that they will work to resolve these concerns and bring the deal to a close.
In the UK, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has extended the deadline for its final decision on the deal until August 29. This extension allows the CMA to consider a new proposal put forward by Microsoft. The company is reportedly contemplating selling some of its UK cloud gaming rights in an effort to gain approval for the merger.
