Gaming Microsoft Buys Activision Blizzard for $68.7 Billion

[Ghan]

Microsoft is acquiring Activision, the troubled publisher of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Diablo. The deal will value Activision at $68.7 billion, far in excess of the $26 billion Microsoft paid to acquire LinkedIn in 2016. It’s Microsoft’s biggest push into gaming, and the company says it will be the “third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony” once the deal closes.

Microsoft plans to add many of Activision’s games to Xbox Game Pass once the deal closes. With the acquisition of Activision, Microsoft will soon publish franchises like Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. “Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog,” says Microsoft’s CEO of gaming Phil Spencer.

Welcoming the Incredible Teams and Legendary Franchises of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft Gaming - Xbox Wire

Creators of Call of Duty, Warcraft, Candy Crush, Tony Hawk, Diablo, Overwatch, Spyro, Hearthstone, Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, StarCraft and more join Team Xbox As a team, we are on a mission to extend the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet. We all know that gaming is the...

news.xbox.com

Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion

Satya Nadella says the deal “will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.”

www.theverge.com

WSJ News Exclusive | Microsoft to Buy Activision Blizzard in All-Cash Deal Valued at $75 Billion

After the all-cash deal valued at about $75 billion closes, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick is expected to leave the videogame heavyweight that has been roiled by claims of workplace misconduct.

www.wsj.com

 

[The Helper]

Damn, you beat me to it! Blizzard is now owned by Microsoft - just wow!

 

[Ghan]

I've seen more positive reaction to this than I expected. Microsoft strikes me as more corporate than Activision so I'm not sure this will really be a long term benefit to the gaming world. It's an opportunity for sure, but I remain somewhat skeptical.

 

[The Helper]

LOL they will just keep releasing the same thing over and over with just a different UI like they do with their other software

 

[Ghan]

LOL they will just keep releasing the same thing over and over with just a different UI like they do with their other software

So after Warcraft 3 we'll have Warcraft 95... fantastic.