South Africa Approves Microsoft Activision-Blizzard Deal

The Microsoft Activision-Blizzard acquisition has been approved by the Competition Tribunal of South Africa.

Today, the South African regulator officially announced that it has 'unconditionally approved' the deal and that it will be releasing its reasons for doing so in the coming days. This makes the only major holdouts when it comes to approving the deal the UK and the US. 

A recent court case explored the reasons behind the deal being blocked in the US, with the FTC attempting to block the merger once and for all. An internal law judge will review the deal in August to decide the outcome of the case, and to find out if the FTC will be able to stop Microsoft from gaining ownership of games such as Call of Duty and Overwatch.

The merger agreement actually expires on July 18, meaning that Microsoft is currently rather desperate to get everybody to approve the deal. They have appealed against the decision made by the Competition and Market Authority in the UK, but as of right now, there's been no decision on whether or not the appeal has been successful.