Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard

Update: It's now on the Xbox blog.

Update 2: Phil Spencer talks abou it.

😐 Seriously? This large acquisition shit is getting ridiculous and is NOT good for the industry. 😑

70 billions!

It a done deal

Welcoming the Incredible Teams and Legendary Franchises of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft Gaming - Xbox Wire

Oh wow "good news" i guess

Wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

🤬ridiculous

If there's a way to buy a victory, Microsoft ID showing you how it's done

So much for 'we have changed internally how we work with Activision'. Actually, come to think of it they were right. They did change the way just not what we thought. They rewarded them with a premium price.

On a side note: where the f**k are antitrust institutions?

Next up, Phony and Nintendont. lol :P

God f***ing damn it!

Only thing positive I see out of this. A big one, mind you. But still: scrubbing out the scum that is Kotick!

Minus that, once again, this is Microsoft monopolizing not only a game genre (FPS, via 343, Rare, Bethesda, and now Activision... keep an eye on Gearbox, Epic, and 3D Realms people), but the industry still.

Meanwhile in other industries, Disney gets flak for all their buyouts (minus Marvel reunification). Sony gets flak for all their anime distribution (Aniplex, Crunchyroll, Funimation). Yet "gamers" online are TOTALLY FINE WITH THIS!

This is definitely going to be a fun deal to watch make its way through DOJ (and other countries' equivalents) approval process.

COD gonna be Xbox exclusive… THIS is the kind of deal Xbox needed. This is HUGE

genuinely seismic buy

Pack it up, we're done here. 3 of the biggest third-party publishers (Bethesda, Activision/Blizzard, EA) in the world under the Xbox/Game Pass umbrella.

This is like the Disney - Fox Entertainment acquisition of gaming.

WOW

Seriously no stopping them.

@tdkmillsy: Oh, jeez, I'd completely forgotten that AB also owns King (and therefore Candy Crush).

I just want to say that when Microsoft bought Zenimax, I came on here to say I wouldn’t be surprised if they made an even bigger move and bought Activision/Blizzard. Everyone here smashed me for that comment saying I was crazy and it was impossible. I also said they might buy Take Two/Rockstar, same response.

I don’t see how this would be good for Microsoft. Call of Duty is on its way out and I don’t know if any Activision games that are worthwhile ATM. What could they possible want with them outside of labor?

Well holy ****!

This is the result of "teh no excoosives " and " Xbox needs more excoosives " and "Xbox has no games". Well your request has been filled. I hope you like.😐

My guess: those lucrative Zork and Keystone Kapers IPs.

@Pedro: I actually agree with you on this one. It doesn’t make any sense.

The number I hear floating around right now is $70 billion, dwarfing Bethesda, but still chump change for Microsoft. That's how big Microsoft is.

Makes sense for ActiBlizz. They have the highest attrition rate among the western publishers. Their attempt to diversify their IP portfolio stumbled a bit, which made them immediately give up and double down on COD yet again, and even that is showing signs of fatigue. Their Blizzard unit is not producing new games quickly enough to compensate for the dwindling revenue from WoW and Overwatch. Maybe it's just time to check out and sell while they're still viable and valuable.

My question, though, is what Microsoft are buying ActiBlizz for, considering how narrow their IP portfolio is, and Microsoft's strategy being very reliant on breadth rather than depth. The only possibility which makes sense is ActiBlizz's footprint in mobile gaming, which doesn't really gel with Microsoft's Game Pass-centric strategy. Perhaps Microsoft will be looking to revitalise the dormant IPs, though that will require far more up-front investment than Bethesda's portfolio. Bethesda made a lot of sense, this decidedly less so.

Anyway, at minimum, perhaps this will finally inject some new life and ideas into the COD franchise, instead of basically releasing the same game every year. I'd also imagine a lot of ActiBlizz employees will be cautiously happy about this; they seem desperate to see new management.

Anyone celebrating this are idiots. Cannot wait for more whereby a monopoly gets created and we are all bled at the wallets with monetisation garbage.

Could Game Pass be all that far from coming to PlayStation systems now?

That is just incredible acquisitions. 70billion to bolster gamepass. Make sense they moved first before amazon, google or netflix moved in to the company. Kinda irked Xbox moved for big publishers that published contents like Sekiro and crash bandicoot honestly but everyone been moaning about xbox lacking content.

Couple of reasons why this is good.:

1. Goodbye Bobby

2. Finally we can get a new Prototype

3. High Moon Studios are a super talented team that was pushed to the background.

Reasons why it's bad:

1. Everything else. I mean, seriously? I get that it is a free market and Activision was in trouble but this seems insane. Why not buy Ubisoft or Sega? Activision is a huge publisher and it just feels wrong and dirty even if it's legal

Don't be silly. COD is still one of the best selling yearly games and Activision/Blizzard is a major player in the industry. Let us not pretend this is a trivial acquisition. This was a strategic move and a major one.

Nope.

Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and he and his team will maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company’s culture and accelerate business growth.Once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming.

Great stuff.

This was necessary for Xbox to “move up” in the gaming market. I said it before, these acquisitions would only make sense if Xbox went after one of the big dogs. Activision is, in my mind, the second biggest purchase Xbox could make. And it forces the best selling franchise, year after year, to be exclusive to Xbox. This deal makes the Bethesda deal look minor in comparison. THIS is the game changer

PlayStation needs to buy Take Two, or they are gonna be in a lot of trouble. They’ve gotta be freaking out right now. They just lost their best selling 3rd party franchise. Crash and Spyro are now Xbox property… This is nuts

Wow, this is so surreal. Definitely thought this was one of those speculative rumors, can't believe it's happening. Not sure how I feel about it. Kind seems like MS is just buying its way around.

@girlusocrazy: I care about gaming and this is not good for gamers as far as I am concern. Also, it is clear you don't know what grief is but I am not remotely surprised.

@girlusocrazy: Not bad scores for trash. I think most would disagree with you on some Level.

They pretty much need Game Pass now. PlayStation has no games otherwise.

What a time to be alive…

Boooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Capitalism at its worst.

Also, very surprising. I could have seen Activision maybe selling off King or Blizzard or some of their studios or whatever, but the whole damn thing? Damn.

I thought the 70 billion was a joke....it is a 70 billion dollar deal. 😯

Spoke too f***ing soon.

I look forward to Lems praising Call of Duty games now 🤣

Been saying here for decades; stop poking the bear but did anyone listen..... Noooo! lol :P

But you were the first to celebrate Sony's acquisition 😂🤣

I'm not saying it's trivial. But obviously MS is going to put COD behind Gamepass and potentially cut off other platforms from it. How does that make MS the money it was making Activision? Especially with Call Of Duty declining in popularity and sales?

Yeah, pretty crazy times indeed.

wow...thought that this was early april fools...honestly im not even sure this is good news. One thing I do know is that if this is allowed to go through, sony is in trouble. Also this isn't good for the industry either...i can't believe im saying this but it might be better if the deal is rejected.

PlayStation - lets pay for some exclusivity so gamers buy Call of Duty on PlayStation and not Xbox

Sony details Call of Duty: Vanguard's PlayStation-exclusive content - Dot Esports

Xbox - Not having that, lets buy Call of Duty.

Put Sony right in their place.

I don't know what people expected Microsoft to do. They where losing in sales to Sony and Nintendo, and other big players (Netflix, Amazon etc) where getting in the market.

It was go big or go home.

They went big.

Sony are less competition than Netflix in the way Microsoft want to play.

Cutoff "A" platform as in singular. Declining in sales and still top selling. Stop with the trivializing of this purchase.