Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion

[Zeedox]

Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion

Satya Nadella says the deal “will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms.”

www.theverge.com

Microsoft is acquiring Activision, the troubled publisher of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Diablo. The deal will value Activision at $68.7 billion, far in excess of the $26 billion Microsoft paid to acquire LinkedIn in 2016. It’s Microsoft’s biggest push into gaming, and the company says it will be the “third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony” once the deal closes.

Microsoft plans to add many of Activision’s games to Xbox Game Pass once the deal closes. With the acquisition of Activision, Microsoft will soon publish franchises like Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. “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,” says Microsoft’s CEO of gaming Phil Spencer.

As someone put it -

"An odd play for the Trade Federation"

 

[Hugo Stiglitz]

So Microsoft the company that couldn't run a gaming division anywhere but into the fucking dirt decided to buy a gaming company that has run itself into the fucking dirt. That is fucking hysterical.

 

[Gomez Adams]

Oh boy. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Now everything will get shoved on to that stupid X Box app that doesn't work right.