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Image credit:Activision-Blizzard/Microsoft
Image credit:Activision-Blizzard/Microsoft
Microsoft have finally, finally,finallybought Activision Blizzard after many months of haggling with regulators in several countries. The total figure for the company behind Call of Duty,World of Warcraft,OverwatchandHearthstone, to say nothing of whopping mobile game publisher King andCandy Crush Saga? $68.7 billion, making this the biggest buyout in videogames industry history.
This follows the UK Competition and Markets Authority’sprovisional approval of the acquisitionlast month, which the CMAupgraded to non-provisionaljust this morning, pronouncing themselves satisfied with Microsoft’s offer to sell Activision-Blizzard cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft so as to avoid having a monopoly of the cloud gaming market.
Activision Blizzard King Joins Xbox - Official TrailerWatch on YouTube
Activision Blizzard King Joins Xbox - Official Trailer
Inan announcement post, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer trumpeted Activision-Blizzard’s games and offered some rosy thoughts for the future.
“As one team, we’ll learn, innovate, and continue to deliver on our promise to bring the joy and community of gaming to more people,” he wrote. “We’ll do this in a culture that strives to empower everyone to do their best work, where all people are welcome, and is centered on our ongoing commitment of Gaming for Everyone.
“We are intentional about inclusion in everything we do at Xbox,” Spencer continued. “From our team to the products we make and the stories we tell, to the way our players interact and engage as a wider gaming community.”
He also made mention of bringing Activision, Blizzard and King games to Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service, promising to “share more about when you can expect to play in the coming months.” (We already know thatDiablo 4 and Modern Warfare 3 will release on Game Passno earlier than 2024.)
Ina separate letter sent to Activision-Blizzard employees, Kotick offered his own recap of Activision’s successes and promised that “combining with Microsoft will bring new resources and new opportunities to our extraordinary teams worldwide”.
He added that “I have long said that I am fully committed to helping with the transition. Phil has asked me to stay on as CEO of ABK, reporting to him, and we have agreed that I will do that through the end of 2023. We both look forward to working together on a smooth integration for our teams and players.”
The Activision mega-buyout is the latest ina series of massive Microsoft acquisitionsover the past 10 years, from Mojang and Minecraft in 2014 to ZeniMax and Bethesda in 2020.
The long-foughtcourt battles over the Activision acquisitionhave been pretty dramatic themselves. Rather farcically, Microsoft recentlymanaged to give away their plans for gaming hardware and services up to 2028after uploading unredacted documentsduring legal proceedings with the US Federal Trade Commission. The FTCstill plan to investigate aspects of the Microsoft Activision buyout, but it sounds like, for the most part, the deal is done.
Activision Blizzard are currently the subject of a number oflegal actions,labour disputesand allegations ofworkplace harassment. Rock Paper Shotgun will continue to write about these issues, as well as covering Activision Blizzard games as part of our commitment to cover subjects of interest to our readers. The latest news can always be found under ourActivision Blizzardtag.
