Microsoft purchases Activision Blizzard for 69 billion

World of Warcraft: Shadowlands. © Blizzard Entertainment.

Microsoft announced plans to buy Activision Blizzard for a record-setting US$ 68.7 billion. Activision Blizzard is one of the largest game publishers with Call of Duty, Diablo, Warcraft, Tony Hawk, Overwatch, and Candy Crush among its franchises. The transaction will make Microsoft the third largest video game company in the world in terms of revenue, behind Tencent and Sony, and its games division will then consist of a constellation of thirty development studios. Microsoft promises to offer as many Activision Blizzard games as possible -- whether new or backlist -- in its Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass programs as soon as the transaction is concluded. Game Pass now has over 25 million subscribers, while Microsoft continues to acquire studios to round out its offerings. The announced agreement comes just fifteen months after the purchase of publisher ZeniMax/Bethesda -- known for The Elder Scrolls, Wolfenstein, Doom and Fallout among others -- for the more modest sum of US$ 7.5 billion. Microsoft expects to close the deal with Activision Blizzard in fiscal year 2023, which begins July 1, 2022, assuming the transaction doesn’t come under fire from antitrust regulators including the Federal Trade Commission.

⇨ Ars Technica, Kyle Orland, “Microsoft set to purchase Activision Blizzard in $68.7 billion deal.”

2022-01-18