Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard For Nearly $70 Billion

Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard For Nearly $70 Billion

15
Matt Lorrigan

Microsoft has announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard in a deal worth $68.7 billion, one of the largest value deals in video game history, 

The deal will see Microsoft bringing in all areas of the business - Activision, Blizzard, and King - giving them access to IPs like Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, and Candy Crush,

Until the close of the transaction, Microsoft Gaming and Activision Blizzard will continue to operate independently, with Activision Blizzard reporting to Xbox boss Phil Spencer once the deal is complete.

“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 catalogue. We also announced today that Game Pass now has more than 25 million subscribers. As always, we look forward to continuing to add more value and more great games to Game Pass.”

“Around the world, there is no more exciting venue for fun and connection than video games. And there has never been a better time to play than right now. As we extend the joy and community of gaming to everyone, we look forward to welcoming all of our friends at Activision Blizzard to Microsoft Gaming.”

As yet, there is no word on whether future Activision Blizzard titles will be exclusive to Xbox consoles. If it is anything like Microsoft's acquisition of Bethesda, we can likely expect current and near-future games to remain multiplatform, but there is a very real possibility that Call of Duty titles, among others, could be Xbox exclusive in the future.

Comments
15
  • Really amazing how much money these guys have.
  • Holy smokes it’s January not April 1st right?
  • Here's hoping the first thing they do is send Kotick packing. They wont, because rich people like to protect eachother, but it would be pretty cool if they did.
  • @1 they're the fourth biggest tech company in the world. This will probably get them up to third.
  • Phil Spencer 3 months ago: "evaluating all aspects of our relationship with Activision Blizzard and making ongoing proactive adjustments... This type of behavior has no place in our industry."
  • @Zenka That's probably why they bought it to run themselves to prevent stuff like that from happening again.
  • I know I got a good long sleep last night, wasn't expecting to wake up to some April Fools day type headlines. I was very confused this morning.

    A lot of people are saying the huge hits that Acti Blizz took to their shares made this deal considerably cheaper for Microsoft, like 25-40% cheaper.

    Kotick is staying on until the deal is complete, then it's a bit vague after that. Hopefully he gets canned after that.
  • Give us a Banjo Kazooie/Crash/Spyro Crossover game not unlike Epic Mickey 2 the power of two !
  • Maybe Overwatch 2 will actually release
  • Halo and CoD under one house. Once MS buys EA they will control three of the OG shooters
  • not really excited about this purchase like i was with Bethesda, as i don't care for most of the Acti/Bliz IPs. but i'm sure MS will take a similar fair-handed approach with these titles and keep most gamers happy across the board.
  • @3 right on, man. It's nice to think that they'd show him the door but even if they he'll still be walking out with sacks of money under his arms.
  • I hate to say that on going harassment scandel at activision is a great thing for Microsoft, but it is. Not only has the scandel driven the stock prices down to allow for a cheaper acquisition, but if Microsoft fixes the environment then they come out of this as heroes.
  • @3 They probably will, but he will get a hefty buyout and be able to never work again as a rich man
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