Tuesday, January 18th 2022
Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard to Bring the Joy and Community of Gaming to Everyone, Across Every Device
With three billion people actively playing games today, and fueled by a new generation steeped in the joys of interactive entertainment, gaming is now the largest and fastest-growing form of entertainment. Today, Microsoft Corp. announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc., a leader in game development and interactive entertainment content publisher. This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft's gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse.
Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion, inclusive of Activision Blizzard's net cash. When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world's third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. The planned acquisition includes iconic franchises from the Activision, Blizzard and King studios like "Warcraft," "Diablo," "Overwatch," "Call of Duty" and "Candy Crush," in addition to global eSports activities through Major League Gaming. The company has studios around the word with nearly 10,000 employees.Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and he and his team will maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company's culture and accelerate business growth. Once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming.
"Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms," said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. "We're investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all."
"Players everywhere love Activision Blizzard games, and we believe the creative teams have their best work in front of them," said Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming. "Together we will build a future where people can play the games they want, virtually anywhere they want."
"For more than 30 years our incredibly talented teams have created some of the most successful games," said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard. "The combination of Activision Blizzard's world-class talent and extraordinary franchises with Microsoft's technology, distribution, access to talent, ambitious vision and shared commitment to gaming and inclusion will help ensure our continued success in an increasingly competitive industry."
Mobile is the largest segment in gaming, with nearly 95% of all players globally enjoying games on mobile. Through great teams and great technology, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will empower players to enjoy the most-immersive franchises, like "Halo" and "Warcraft," virtually anywhere they want. And with games like "Candy Crush," Activision Blizzard's mobile business represents a significant presence and opportunity for Microsoft in this fast-growing segment.
The acquisition also bolsters Microsoft's Game Pass portfolio with plans to launch Activision Blizzard games into Game Pass, which has reached a new milestone of over 25 million subscribers. With Activision Blizzard's nearly 400 million monthly active players in 190 countries and three billion-dollar franchises, this acquisition will make Game Pass one of the most compelling and diverse lineups of gaming content in the industry. Upon close, Microsoft will have 30 internal game development studios, along with additional publishing and esports production capabilities.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and completion of regulatory review and Activision Blizzard's shareholder approval. The deal is expected to close in fiscal year 2023 and will be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share upon close. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.
Source:
Activision Blizzard
Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion, inclusive of Activision Blizzard's net cash. When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world's third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. The planned acquisition includes iconic franchises from the Activision, Blizzard and King studios like "Warcraft," "Diablo," "Overwatch," "Call of Duty" and "Candy Crush," in addition to global eSports activities through Major League Gaming. The company has studios around the word with nearly 10,000 employees.Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and he and his team will maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company's culture and accelerate business growth. Once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming.
"Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms," said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. "We're investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all."
"Players everywhere love Activision Blizzard games, and we believe the creative teams have their best work in front of them," said Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming. "Together we will build a future where people can play the games they want, virtually anywhere they want."
"For more than 30 years our incredibly talented teams have created some of the most successful games," said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard. "The combination of Activision Blizzard's world-class talent and extraordinary franchises with Microsoft's technology, distribution, access to talent, ambitious vision and shared commitment to gaming and inclusion will help ensure our continued success in an increasingly competitive industry."
Mobile is the largest segment in gaming, with nearly 95% of all players globally enjoying games on mobile. Through great teams and great technology, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will empower players to enjoy the most-immersive franchises, like "Halo" and "Warcraft," virtually anywhere they want. And with games like "Candy Crush," Activision Blizzard's mobile business represents a significant presence and opportunity for Microsoft in this fast-growing segment.
The acquisition also bolsters Microsoft's Game Pass portfolio with plans to launch Activision Blizzard games into Game Pass, which has reached a new milestone of over 25 million subscribers. With Activision Blizzard's nearly 400 million monthly active players in 190 countries and three billion-dollar franchises, this acquisition will make Game Pass one of the most compelling and diverse lineups of gaming content in the industry. Upon close, Microsoft will have 30 internal game development studios, along with additional publishing and esports production capabilities.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and completion of regulatory review and Activision Blizzard's shareholder approval. The deal is expected to close in fiscal year 2023 and will be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share upon close. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.
215 Comments on Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard to Bring the Joy and Community of Gaming to Everyone, Across Every Device
They might even recognize the value of Blizzards portfolio better and bring it back to glory. I mean, MS does want to have diverse offerings for all market segments, because thats where the userbase needs to come from. Given the variety of what they acquire... this can go lots of good ways. And this :)
Granted, I'm not going to argue that mobile gaming is big. But like Solaris, I give a raised eyebrow to the numbers stated. Console gaming alone has a huge numbers.
I would say EA is a much better option, they make lots of cool games still and they have lots of IPs hat rivel call of duty like battlefield and medal of honor
And the timing of thing accusation is not good, they should have waited at least a year, because let's not kid ourselves nobody other than microsoft or maybe apple would have so much cash to buy activation anyway
hmmmmmm
They don't make games like they used to, because games today are largely on mobile devices with shitty microtransactions. King/Candy Crush like games are huge these days.
Microsoft
Sony
EA
Take 2
Ubisoft it can, cause Microsoft can bring Windows (Store) or Xbox exclusive.
The world of gaming has changed in the past 10 years. There are new players, new games, new strategies. That list you had is seriously a 10-year-old mentality. Tencent is #1 in terms of gaming revenue, largely because of that huge and growing mobile market.
It is in light of mega-gaming corps like Tencent which is encouraging Microsoft to buy up things like Activision/Blizzard, in hopes to compete against Tencent.
Also, have a look at this:
Overwatch is the only thing on that list that is new from this triple-company merged corp.
The last Diablo game killed the franchise, almost abruptly with Activision's shoehorning a RMAH in there.
COD is stale - there's been nothing new or innovative in them for decades and their biggest successes are in ripping off other games now.
WOW - enough said. All of the positive aspects of WOW were pre-Activision and that team doesn't exist any more.
Candy Crush - Massively popular pre-Activision and now just a meme that gets dumped on everything like unwanted McAfee Antivirus trials.
Starcraft II was ruined by Activision. Wings of Libery was amazing and mostly completed before the merger, then the following two expansions under Activision were a write off. We don't talk about that any more.
Microsoft, the soulless megacorp have just acquired the studios that were already acquired by another soulless megacorp. Each acquisition removes any spark of talent or original game design that little bit more.
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I don't think anyone denies that Activision/Blizzard's culture is terrible and in a state of atrophy right now. But they've got some good properties.
All in all, Microsoft lost some points in my book.
I don't really care what that asshole feels or do, I just want him gone from the industry.
Hearthstone was conceived in 2008 by "Blizzard Team 5" as a response to pre-Activision blizzard realising that their cashflow was only coming from big, slowing franchises that cost too much to make.
It is possibly the last thing to get developed without Activision ruining it; if you followed the devblogs and vlogs at the time it was very much a delicate time for Activision as the hated megacorp and they pretty much left Team5 to do what they wanted autonomously because it was the first new game in ages and Activision didn't want to be accused of stifling innovation like they had for everything else. Yeah, a buddy of mine works for King in London. I've been to his office and a couple of work socials and they are rolling in it.
Microsoft ain't the best when it comes to programmer/developer culture, but they're likely better than Activision/Blizzard was.