Microsoft is acquiring Activision Blizzard King for $70 billion
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Microsoft has announced that they’re acquiring Activision Blizzard King, creators of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Candy Crush.
Moments after reports emerged that Microsoft was nearing a deal to purchase the monolith publisher, which is currently embroiled in controversy, Microsoft has officially announced that they have “agreed to acquire Activision Blizzard.”
Despite currently being at the centre of a whirlwind of controversy, Microsoft touted Activision Blizzard’s success, saying they have earned “vast wellsprings of joy and respect from billions of people all over the world.”
As part of this $70 billion acquisition, Microsoft will incorporate “Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, Demonware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, Treyarch and every team across Activision Blizzard” into the Xbox Game Studios family.
In the announcement post, Xbox head and newly crowned CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer revealed that once this transaction closes, “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.”
It’s currently unclear if Microsoft is planning to make Activision Blizzard King’s future games exclusive to Microsoft’s ecosystem, just as they’re doing following their acquisition of Bethesda.
For $70 billion, you’d definitely hope that they’re going to get their money’s worth, even if it does deprive PlayStation players of future Call of Duty titles.
