Commerce Commission Gives Clearance For Microsoft To Buy Activision

The Commerce Commission has granted clearance for Microsoft Corporation to acquire 100% of the common stock of Activision Blizzard.

Both Microsoft and Activision are developers, publishers and distributors of video games for personal computer (PC), gaming consoles and mobile platforms. In addition, Microsoft produces and sells the Xbox range of video-game consoles, as well as PC hardware and peripherals, and offers cloud computing services.

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.

Commission Chair Dr John Small said the Commission was satisfied that the merger is unlikely to substantially lessen competition in any New Zealand market.

“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.”

A public version of the written reasons for the decision will be available on the Commission’s case register in due course.

Background
We will give clearance to a proposed merger if we are satisfied that the merger is unlikely to have the effect of substantially lessening competition in a market.

Further information explaining how the Commission assesses a merger application is available on our website.

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