Oliver Haslam on January 18, 2022, 11:58 pm

Microsoft Announces A $69 Billion Acquisition Of Activision Blizzard

Microsoft has announced that it will buy Activision Blizzard, the company behind Call of Duty, Diablo, and World of Warcraft in a deal that is worth $68.7 billion. The deal will surely have to be given the OK by regulatory and antitrust bodies, however.

It isn’t immediately clear which of the many high-profile games on Activision’s books will move to Microsoft’s Game Pass subscription service, however.

The plan is absolutely to bring at least some, making them Xbox and PC exclusives in the process. “Upon close, 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,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said.

However, in announcing the buyout Spencer also said that “Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward.” That should mean that at least some games will remain available on PlayStation consoles although, again, we don’t know which ones.

“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.”

For now, at least it seems that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick will stay on — at least while the deal closes. Kotick has been in hot water for months following the company’s high-profile sexual harassment problems and it seems unlikely that he will be around once the deal is complete. That, at least, should be good news for those working at the company and who hope that moving within Microsoft will improve working conditions.