Numerous top titles such as Call of Duty, Diablo and World of Warcraft are going to Microsoft, the corporation is buying Activision Blizzard for just under 70 billion US dollars.
The gaming market could be in for fundamental changes: On Tuesday, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for US$68.7 billion, making it the largest acquisition in video game history.
To put the scale in perspective: Only recently, Take 2 Interactive acquired the mobile title manufacturer Zynga for twelve billion US dollars – the largest sum for a game company to date. Microsoft is now paying almost six times that amount for Activision Blizzard.
Top titles to be Xbox-exclusive in future?
With the Californian company, numerous top brands such as Call of Duty, Diablo and World of Warcraft will move to Microsoft, but also the mobile division around the flagship Candy Crush. The deal is to be completed in June 2023.
Last year, Microsoft had already taken over Bethesda Softworks, a major games company, and thus won titles such as Doom and the Elder Scrolls series for its own range. Future Bethesda games are to appear exclusively for Windows PCs and Xbox.
Is Sony falling into the “subscription trap”?
The competition, first and foremost Sony of course, now fears that Activision Blizzard’s top titles will also be offered exclusively for Xbox in the future or will only be available on other platforms at a later date. In any case, the takeover will massively strengthen the company’s Game Pass offer – while Sony’s share price plummeted by a whopping eight percent after the announcement.
The Japanese rival company has so far offered a less successful subscription service to Xbox Game Pass with PS Now and could feel the consequences in the coming years. However, Sony is said to be already working on a new model under the project name “Spartacus”.
Investment in the metaverse
With the acquisition, Microsoft is also looking to set the course for what could be one of the most defining technologies of the future: the metaverse. “Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting form of entertainment and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. “We’re investing in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era.”
Another aspect of the deal comes from the second party: Activision Blizzard was rocked by a sexism scandal last year that saw more than three dozen employees leave the company. The game company’s share price fell significantly as a result, which made it easier for Microsoft to take over.
Meanwhile, the hierarchical future at Activision Blizzard is the subject of controversial discussion: CEO Bobby Kotick, who faced massive criticism in the course of the sexism scandal, is to remain in office according to Microsoft – the community reacts to this personnel decision predominantly with rejection.