It’s now been more than 48 hours since Microsoft unveiled its plans to acquire the biggest Western video game publisher., Activision-Blizzard. Since then, it’s a bit tense to find your way around if you don’t follow video game news diligently, between business information, those concerning the future ex-CEO and employees of Actiblizzard, or the consequences on the long-term, of which we will only be able to become fully aware in a few years. Here, we are going to release 5 concrete facts around the subject, detailed in a concise way, in order, we hope, to help you measure the magnitude of Microsoft’s masterstroke (?).
Biggest takeover in video game history
Attention, we will start by specifying that nothing is done in this story: if the “official” communication from MS was launched last Tuesday, theThe plan still specifies that everything will not be set in stone until June 2023.. Given Microsoft’s comments around this takeover announcement and the previous Zenimax / Bethesda, this still tends to be confident about the realization of this unprecedented deal. The amount of the check signed by Xbox is an astronomical amount, far exceeding anything that had been examined so far in this area : 80 billion to change the course of history? Maybe.
The 5 Biggest JV Takeovers
- Microsoft buys Activision in 2022: 68.7 billion dollars
- Take Two buys Zynga in 2022: 12.7 billion dollars
- Tencent buys Supercell in 2019: 10.2 billion dollars
- Microsoft buys Bethesda in 2020: 7.5 billion dollars
- Activision buys King in 2016: 5.9 billion dollars
Activision-Blizzard: A staggering number of licenses in play
We gave you the list of the real war chest recovered by Microsoft just below, it’s still quite impressive, you will agree. For the moment, communication around the fate of iconic multi-media licenses (hello Call of) is quite vague. Sony hopes in any case that the American manufacturer will respect its commitments by continuing to distribute these steamrollers on their machines, while Activision has made it clear that they do not plan Playstation blinds. Still, the situation is quite similar to that of the takeover of Bethesda, with a Phil Spencer stating that he would obviously continue to supply “some” of the brand’s games on their platform. However MS could encounter some legal difficulties if they plan to make Call of Duty an exclusively Xbox license..
Bobby Kotick’s departure scheduled for 2023
It is written directly in the press release from the Microsoft site, Bobby Kotick is supposed to move once the contract is applied in 2023 and a priori it will not happen without a nice jackpot. An exit considered too soft by anyone of any sense, when we know what the businessman let flow within his studios. However, this opens a new window for Actiblizzard employees, who will be able to benefit from a corporate culture that will certainly be more acceptable than that which may still prevail in the publisher’s premises. We obviously hope for them that the transition will be smooth. Mr. Kotick also added a pan to his splendid collection in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal report: the CEO wanted to get his hands on PC Gamer and Kotaku to silence his journalists.
A takeover of tens of billions of dollars, several dozen licenses in the game and in the middle of it all, the destiny of one man: Bobby Kotick, current CEO of ActiBlizzard. What does this acquisition by Microsoft mean for him? The WSJ brings us some answers.
The Xbox Game Pass, a massive subscription weapon
Over 25 million registered users, big wins last year thanks to the release of Forza Horizon 5 and the shadow drop of Halo Infinite multiplayer in the game pass. It’s been said for years, but we think it’s a good time to repeat it for the umpteenth time: the Xbox Game Pass service is Microsoft’s no. 1 argument to install the Xbox brand in homes. In addition to xCloud, one of the best devices of its kind, the Xbox Game Pass application is now integrated into the store on many Smart TVs. Just imagine the strike force available to MS to supply its subscription: it’s simply monumental. Especially since Phil Spencer has clearly indicated that a certain The Elder Scrolls VI will not finally be on Playstation 5. Things can still change, but the main criticism made of Xbox during the previous generation, was not having enough “pillar” exclusivities to stand out: once the purchase has been validated, this will no longer be the case, especially since large cartridges like Starfield or Fable are already in the magazine.
Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, has spoken out about rumors of a potential Game Pass-like project being carried out by long-time rivals Sony and PlayStation.
Space takeovers, a trend that is confirmed
It’s been months since it started, even years: at the end of 2020, it was already Microsoft who had kicked off the takeovers of the impossible, acquiring Zenimax, the parent company of Bethesda for $8.1 billion. Since then, Sony has also announced the takeover of several studios that have already been gravitating around its activities for a while, such as Housemarque or Bluepoint, while large publishers have also absorbed renowned studios that are losing momentum: we retain for example Codemasters, bought by Electronic Arts in February 2021 for 1 billion, or Zynga by Take Two for 12.7 billion dollars. With this blow to almost 80 billion, Xbox is in the “escalation of violence” and it is difficult to see how this current could be reversed in 2022, we are not at the end of our surprises.
EA continues to expand its racing game offering, acquiring English publisher Codemasters, known for overseeing some of the biggest motorsport franchises.
To go into detail
And since we are on MGG, you can find our detailed impressions of this announcement in several articles to be found on our dedicated portals.