Microsoft have finally, finally,finallybought Activision Blizzard after many months of haggling with regulators in several countries. The total figure for the company behind Call of Duty,World of Warcraft,OverwatchandHearthstone, to say nothing of whopping mobile game publisher King andCandy Crush Saga? $68.7 billion, making this the biggest buyout in videogames industry history.
This follows the UK Competition and Markets Authority’sprovisional approval of the acquisitionlast month, which the CMAupgraded to non-provisionaljust this morning, pronouncing themselves satisfied with Microsoft’s offer to sell Activision-Blizzard cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft so as to avoid having a monopoly of the cloud gaming market.
Inan announcement post, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer trumpeted Activision-Blizzard’s games and offered some rosy thoughts for the future.
“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,” he wrote. “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,” Spencer continued. “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.”
Spencer touched on the wrangle over cloud gaming, commenting that “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.”
Ina separate letter sent to Activision-Blizzard employees, Kotick offered his own recap of Activision’s successes and promised that “combining with Microsoft will bring new resources and new opportunities to our extraordinary teams worldwide”.
Activision Blizzard are currently the subject of a number oflegal actions,labour disputesand allegations ofworkplace harassment. Rock Paper Shotgun will continue to write about these issues, as well as covering Activision Blizzard games as part of our commitment to cover subjects of interest to our readers. The latest news can always be found under ourActivision Blizzardtag.
