In an extraordinary turn of events, Microsoft is closing in on a deal to buy Activision Blizzard. that Wall Street Journal reported today. Not only would this be one of the biggest upheavals in the gaming industry in years, it could also finally make a difference the end for its terrible CEO Bobby Kotick.
Activision Blizzard has been through a turbulent time after uncovering widespread issues of sexual harassment and trauma within the giant company. Sued by the state of California after huge exposure to workplace culture, people called for Kotick’s resignation and sweeping changes at the company, with leadership just slamming the hatches. God knows what’s going to happen to it now Announcement by Microsoft today, but unfortunately they pretend it’s not a problem. A Microsoft statement states:
“Bobby Kotick will continue as Activision Blizzard’s CEO, and he and his team will remain focused on driving efforts to further strengthen the company’s culture and accelerate business growth.”
Microsoft said the purchase of Activision Blizzard Inc. would make the Xbox maker the third-biggest gaming company “by revenue,” behind only Tencent and Sony.
the WSJ says the sale values Activision Blizzard at $95 per share for a total of $68.7 billion “including net cash.”
It’s a wholesale buy that gets Activision, Blizzard and King along with all the many studios they own and of course ownership of some of the biggest licenses in gaming.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made things seem a little dirtier by describing this deal as “playing a key role in the development of our Metaverse platforms.”
“We’re investing heavily in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new gaming era that puts players and developers first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all,” Nadella added.
Thank god he sort of skipped “NFTs”.
Another Microsoft post about the acquisition statuses,
“Over many decades, the studios and teams that make up Activision Blizzard have earned tremendous sources of joy and respect from billions of people around the world. We are incredibly excited to have the opportunity to work with the amazing, talented and dedicated people at Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, Demonware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment and Raven Software, Sledgehammer games, toys for Bob, Treyarch and every Activision Blizzard team.”
They make it clear that the sale is not yet complete and that until then the companies will operate independently. Of course, this is a deal of such enormous proportions that it will likely come under scrutiny on monopoly and antitrust issues.
What is not mentioned anywhere in all these statements is the current catastrophic state of Activision Blizzard, the ongoing problems, strikes and miserable employees. Microsoft has a huge mess to clean up if the deal goes through. But maybe it could mean that the mess is actually being addressed.
Updated: 1/18/22 9:00 AM ET: Updated headline to reflect correct post-sale figure Wall Street Journal‘s report changed the figure from $50 billion to $68.7 billion.
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