Yesterday, Microsoft surprised every corner of the gaming industry by announcing plans to acquire Activision Blizzard. Phil Spencer, who you may know by now as the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, outlined a deal — set to close in 2023 at a cost of $68.7 billion — that is currently closing.
But a quick press release from Xbox and another from Visual Blizzard only served to clarify things. It is immortal. huge. Probably one of the biggest gaming news I’ve seen (I’ve been covering it for over 10 years now). That makes Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda in 2020 seem almost trivial (it’s only natural: the merger is worth roughly 10 times what Microsoft’s last big acquisition was).
We’ve put a lot of thought into this situation, and we’ve hired a gaming business expert to answer all your big questions about the more complex aspects of the merger. We’ve covered stories comparing this acquisition to other notable acquisitions in the media industry (noting that Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard because Disney paid for Fox), and we dug into some of the chief’s comments.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said he will be “on call as needed” at the studio as the acquisition progresses. Phil Spencer also offered some PlayStation fans a glimmer of hope, noting that “this is not [Xbox’s] Intent to pull the community away from the platform, and [it] still committed to [PlayStation]. ”
That’s all good, but it’s just some of the immediate, most important stuff we’ve covered here. Importantly; What do you think?
With that in mind, we’d love to hear from you in the comments below and let us know what you think of this unprecedented deal — and if it’s affecting your buying, spending and gaming habits. We may discuss some of the comments here in another video in the next few days or weeks, so please keep it clean and civil!
And, if you want, you can always suggest the dream game you’d like Xbox and Activision Blizzard to develop together. You can use the list in the link for inspiration.
