One less hurdle.
New Zealand’s Commerce Commission has provided Xbox the go ahead in its planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
“In reaching its decision, the Commission focused on the importance of Activision games (such as Call of Duty, Overwatch and World of Warcraft) to New Zealand gamers, and whether Microsoft would be likely to stop rivals like Sony and NVIDIA from offering those games on consoles and on cloud platforms,” the organisation said in a media statement.
“While Activision games, in particular Call of Duty, are popular with New Zealand gamers, our enquiries did not find that they are likely to be ‘must have’ in order to compete with Microsoft in New Zealand,” said the Commerce Commission’s chair, Dr John Small.
As you’d expect, Microsoft applauded the decision.
“We appreciate the thoughtful consideration by the New Zealand Competition Commerce Commission of our acquisition of Activision Blizzard and welcome their its decision to clear the deal unconditionally,” a Microsoft representative told Stevivor. “This acquisition will ultimately benefit the gaming industry and gamers and we will continue to work toward closing the deal.”
Update: Activision Blizzard was also pleased.
“We are happy to see New Zealand join the more than 40 countries around the world that have cleared our merger,” said a spokesperson. “This deal benefits players and competition, and we remain confident in the path forward.”
The acquisition has also been given the go ahead by the USA’s Federal Trade Commission. Microsoft is currently in negotiations with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.
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