Microsoft Completes Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

[GFreeman]

After almost two years, Microsoft has finally closed the $68.7 billion deal and acquired Activision Blizzard. Confirmed by Phil Spencer, head of gaming at Microsoft, the deal comes after the final approval from UK's Competition and Markets earlier today. The acquisition puts Activision Blizzard, developers Infinity Ward, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Treyarch, Toys for Bob, Beenox and High Moon Studios, as well as the mobile game maker King, which is known for its Candy Crush game, all under Xbox Game Studios.

In case you missed it, Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard back in January 2022, after which it started its battle with various regulators, including UK's CMA, the European Commission, the US Federal Trade Commission, and others. In its extensive statement, Phil Spencer, head of gaming at Microsoft, once again confirmed that they will continue to make more games available in more places, as it promised to the European Commission, and they can now start the work to bring all those franchises to Game Pass and other platforms. Earlier this week, Activision Blizzard confirmed it expected to start adding titles to Game Pass in 2024, if the aforementioned deal goes through.

Here is the full statement from Phil Spencer.

We love gaming. We play games, create games, and know first-hand how much gaming means to all of us as individuals and collectively, as a community. And today, we officially welcome Activision Blizzard and their teams to Xbox. They are the publishers of some of the most played and most beloved franchises in gaming history across console, PC and mobile. From Pitfall to Call of Duty, World of Warcraft to Overwatch, Candy Crush Saga to Farm Heroes Saga, their studios have pushed the boundaries of gaming for players around the world.

I've long admired the work of Activision, Blizzard, and King, and the impact they've had on gaming, entertainment, and pop culture. Whether it was late nights spent playing the Diablo IV campaign with friends from start to finish, gathering the entire family in the rec room for our weekly Guitar Hero night, or going on an epic streak in Candy Crush, some of my most memorable gaming moments came from experiences their studios have created. It is incredible to welcome such legendary teams to Xbox.

As one team, we'll learn, innovate, and continue to deliver on our promise to bring the joy and community of gaming to more people. We'll do this in a culture that strives to empower everyone to do their best work, where all people are welcome, and is centered on our ongoing commitment of Gaming for Everyone. We are intentional about inclusion in everything we do at Xbox - from our team to the products we make and the stories we tell, to the way our players interact and engage as a wider gaming community.

Together, we'll create new worlds and stories, bring your favorite games to more places so more players can join in, and we'll engage with and delight players in new, innovative ways in the places they love to play including mobile, cloud streaming and more.

Players have always been at the center of everything we do. And as we grow, we'll continue to keep players at the heart of it all. We'll continue to listen to your feedback, build a community where you can be yourself, where developers can do their best work, and continue to make really fun games. As promised, we will also continue to make more games available in more places - and that begins now by enabling cloud streaming providers and players to stream Activision Blizzard games in the European Economic Area, a commitment made to the European Commission. Today we start the work to bring beloved Activision, Blizzard, and King franchises to Game Pass and other platforms. We'll share more about when you can expect to play in the coming months. We know you're excited - and we are too.

For the millions of fans who love Activision, Blizzard, and King games, we want you to know that today is a good day to play. You are the heart and soul of these franchises, and we are honored to have you as part of our community. Whether you play on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, PC or mobile, you are welcome here - and will remain welcome, even if Xbox isn't where you play your favorite franchise. Because when everyone plays, we all win. We believe our news today will unlock a world of possibilities for more ways to play. Thank you for the ongoing support. We have so much more to come in the months ahead - I'm excited for the future and cannot wait to share it with you.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[GerKNG]

a anti consumer platform that releases literal shit as a service (Microsoft) buys a company that monetizes yearly 100 dollar games like chinese gacha games with the most "i don't give a fuck" pay to win and cringy skins on top of it.
i bet this will make everything better...

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

Bye Kotick

 

[matar]

Great news more games to Xbox & PC game pass

 

[Selaya]

a anti consumer platform that releases literal shit as a service (Microsoft) buys a company that monetizes yearly 100 dollar games like chinese gacha games with the most "i don't give a fuck" pay to win and cringy skins on top of it.
i bet this will make everything better...

birds of a feather flock together!

 

[Gooigi's Ex]

a anti consumer platform that releases literal shit as a service (Microsoft) buys a company that monetizes yearly 100 dollar games like chinese gacha games with the most "i don't give a fuck" pay to win and cringy skins on top of it.
i bet this will make everything better...

As much as I love gamepass, this is a valid viewpoint of the situation. It’s gonna be interesting to say the least lol

 

[unwind-protect]

Can only get better for B/A from here, at worst stay the same.

 

[Dragokar]

So now, please make a wonderful Warcraft IV and turn WoW finally into F2P with more stupid Gamepasslevels.

 

[Gooigi's Ex]

Great news more games to Xbox & PC game pass

I mean sure but more games equals a bump up in price. That’s gonna suck

 

[Dr_b_]

Bye Kotick

“Phil has asked me to stay on as CEO of Activision Blizzard King, reporting to him, and we have agreed that I will do that through the end of 2023,” Kotick wrote. Kotick, who became CEO of Activision in 1991, stands to receive upward of $375 million in compensation now that the deal is done.

That's just insanity

 

[Calenhad]

a anti consumer platform that releases literal shit as a service (Microsoft) buys a company that monetizes yearly 100 dollar games like chinese gacha games with the most "i don't give a fuck" pay to win and cringy skins on top of it.
i bet this will make everything better...

How is delivery handled for this literal service? By mail?

Bye Kotick

This is the big bonus from this buyout.

 

[FoulOnWhite]

So now, please make a wonderful Warcraft IV and turn WoW finally into F2P with more stupid Gamepasslevels.

Really hoping wow goes F2P, it might even bring the player numbers up again. I'm still playing classic

 

[zmeul]

cancer detected

 

[RayneYoruka]

Can we finally have a remaster of VTM: Bloodlines????

 

[Deleted member 229121]

Phil to the board:

Bye Kotick

Yes Bobby, please let the door (or anyone in the building) hit you on the way out.

 

[Frick]

Had the world been better this would be bad. In reality though it's good, because Blizzard needs some direction and MS can't do things worse.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Had the world been better this would be bad. In reality though it's good, because Blizzard needs some direction and MS can't do things worse.

ABK seems like it was going to sell itself off regardless and the other companies that could afford to purchase it are either equally bad or worse than M$. My hope is some of the long dormant abk franchises get revived and hopefully Blizzard figures itself out it's a shame what they and Bioware have become husk of their former self.

One thing is for sure I much rather Phil Spencer be running ABK than Bobby Kotick honestly Microsoft Game studios/Xbox has been much better under him than the previous dude that almost killed the xbox brand.

 

[Kapone33]

I guess now the default price for "AAA" Games will continue at these ridiculous prices. You can buy a 1TB NVME drive for less than a brand new Game. In what world does that make sense. If they are willing to sell FM8 for $90 CAD and give you 20 tracks and then inform you that there will be tracks coming as DLC (with the Game less than a week old) it should serve as a bell weather for where this is going. I am not going to subscribe to it but I like playing Games so I am going to get one of those Xbox Gift cards and link that to my pay and when it runs out MS can KMA and Steam and rest will remain. I don't even have Gamepass linked to my GOG galaxy launcher. As an aside I have FM7 and cannot even access the files as MS blocks me. What does that mean? Every time I reset Windows I have to re-download the files for that Game, even if I direct it to the drive the original is on. Of course my progress is saved.

 

[oxrufiioxo]

I guess now the default price for "AAA" Games will continue at these ridiculous prices. You can buy a 1TB NVME drive for less than a brand new Game. In what world does that make sense. If they are willing to sell FM8 for $90 CAD and give you 20 tracks and then inform you that there will be tracks coming as DLC (with the Game less than a week old) it should serve as a bell weather for where this is going. I am not going to subscribe to it but I like playing Games so I am going to get one of those Xbox Gift cards and link that to my pay and when it runs out MS can KMA and Steam and rest will remain. I don't even have Gamepass linked to my GOG galaxy launcher. As an aside I have FM7 and cannot even access the files as MS blocks me. What does that mean? Every time I reset Windows I have to re-download the files for that Game, even if I direct it to the drive the original is on. Of course my progress is saved.

All tracks post launch in FM will be free the developer has already stated.

 

[Kapone33]

All tracks post launch in FM will be free the developer has already stated.

Thank you for context.

 

[Hyderz]

Now expand the universe of Starcraft please, i dont have much love for warcraft or diablo anymore

 

[PapaTaipei]

Even a 3yo can understand what our economy is going for, consolidation. Until the next big crisis/war that will bring down consortiums and again restart the process.

 

[Dragokar]

Really hoping wow goes F2P, it might even bring the player numbers up again. I'm still playing classic

That's the only thing that I do, maybe a month a year.

 

[Vayra86]

ABK seems like it was going to sell itself off regardless and the other companies that could afford to purchase it are either equally bad or worse than M$. My hope is some of the long dormant abk franchises get revived and hopefully Blizzard figures itself out it's a shame what they and Bioware have become husk of their former self.

One thing is for sure I much rather Phil Spencer be running ABK than Bobby Kotick honestly Microsoft Game studios/Xbox has been much better under him than the previous dude that almost killed the xbox brand.

Blizzard isn't figuring anything out. The soul has long left that company. There's just not enough released that's proof of any kind of talent left. Every game they had to design game systems and mechanics for, has flopped, except for Hearthstone, you could say, after the glory days of Starcraft, WC3 and WoW. And that's 'flopped' in the sense of them not being a leading company in gaming anymore. When they did RTS, they ruled the RTS. When they did MMO, they owned it. And repeated the trick a few times, too. Blizzard became one of the many developers that release games. The only signature they have left is perfect post release support. But for that to really make a dent you need a very strong base game.

They shelved Starcraft Ghost at some point. They had ideas to build a new MMO. Nothing materialized, instead they started copying the boats they missed (Heroes of the Storm / MOBA) and that literally started creating a playerbase right under their noses as a custom map in Warcraft 3 no less. They started a digital TCG, the first open attempt at going deep into gambling to build a business case. Starcraft 2 went F2P and its online community dwindled nonetheless. The WC3 remake was a fail. And their reimagining of Diablo (3/4) isn't going places either, instead indies have taken over the market for 'ARPG as a service', with Path of Exile, and offline with Grim Dawn and several others. I'd dare say the best game Blizzard released in the last ten years is Diablo 2 Remastered - because they kept it true to the old title.

And then there's the PR fails of the last years. Don't you guys have phones. Overwatch 2. I mean what the fk.

So what IS Blizzard today, anyway?

 

[oxrufiioxo]

Blizzard isn't figuring anything out. The soul has long left that company. There's just not enough released that's proof of any kind of talent left. Every game they had to design game systems and mechanics for, has flopped, except for Hearthstone, you could say, after the glory days of Starcraft, WC3 and WoW. And that's 'flopped' in the sense of them not being a leading company in gaming anymore. When they did RTS, they ruled the RTS. When they did MMO, they owned it. And repeated the trick a few times, too. Blizzard became one of the many developers that release games. The only signature they have left is perfect post release support. But for that to really make a dent you need a very strong base game.

They shelved Starcraft Ghost at some point. They had ideas to build a new MMO. Nothing materialized, instead they started copying the boats they missed (Heroes of the Storm / MOBA) and that literally started creating a playerbase right under their noses as a custom map in Warcraft 3 no less. They started a digital TCG, the first open attempt at going deep into gambling to build a business case. Starcraft 2 went F2P and its online community dwindled nonetheless. The WC3 remake was a fail. And their reimagining of Diablo (3/4) isn't going places either, instead indies have taken over the market for 'ARPG as a service', with Path of Exile, and offline with Grim Dawn and several others. I'd dare say the best game Blizzard released in the last ten years is Diablo 2 Remastered - because they kept it true to the old title.

And then there's the PR fails of the last years. Don't you guys have phones. Overwatch 2. I mean what the fk.

So what IS Blizzard today, anyway?

For sure but all of that was under Bobby Kotick... I'm just optimistic under Phil Spencer they can't be worse. I guess only time will tell I've actually still like most their games even Overwatch 2 is fun with a group of friends. I actually enjoy a lot of stuff on the Activision side especially infinity ward releases so just not jaded to the point I've given up on them I guess.