Is a major change for the better brewing behind the scenes at Activision Blizzard now that the massive studio is fully owned by Microsoft?
Since last year, the news for Activision Blizzard has not been particularly good after its acquisition by Microsoft. However, this could change, at least on Blizzard’s side, with a new future perspective for the influential American studio. At least that’s what the expert Jez Corden of Windows Central reports.
Activision Blizzard partners with Microsoft to create variety
After the historic takeover for the colossal sum of $69 billion, officially announced in October 2023, Activision Blizzard has been looking bleak ever since. Between mass layoffs, game cancellations and a reputation for being at half-mast, things have not been going well for the giant American corporation. The news reported by Jez Corden is fortunately a little more encouraging. There would actually be talk of the creation of a new team within Blizzard. Its mission would include: ” AA games focused on existing franchises like Overwatch, Warcraft, StarCraft and beyond ».
If the prospect of StarCraft in particular (we’re watching a certain Stormgate until then) finally getting back on track is exciting on paper, it’s wise to take it with a grain of salt. Jez Corden confirms fan speculation related to the update of several employee profiles at King, the mobile gaming studio bought by Activision in 2015. According to our own sources, our colleague at Windows Central will also report this, as well as that new team within Activision Blizzard will mainly include the latter.
So by AA Games, Microsoft could mean the development of mobile games focused on Activision Blizzard’s flagship franchises. Remember that one of the reasons for the acquisition by the Redmond company was to invest heavily in the lucrative mobile gaming market. It could therefore be that this small team (despite the Immortal debacle) develops nomadic adaptations of licenses such as Hearthstone or Diablo. However, all this remains to be confirmed. Xbox could in particular take advantage of its presence at Gamescom to make it official. Until then, patience and caution are required.
Source : Jez Corden via Windows Central
