It is an unprecedented earthquake that has just shaken the video game industry. The information has fallen: Activision Blizzard will definitely belong to Microsoft.
The news is fresh, and questions inevitably arise after such an announcement.
An industry forever changed
The numbers are enough to make you dizzy! Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have reached an agreement for a $68.7 billion takeover. The American manufacturer offers itself prestigious licenses such as call of duty, Diablo, Overwatch, World of Warcraft and even candy Crush
through the King subsidiary.
All the studios responsible for these franchises follow the movement quite logically, and the organization chart of the firm as a whole will be upset. It remains to be seen whether the much-talked-about Bobby Kotick will keep his job as CEO for long.
Licenses that turn their backs on certain players?
With the acquisition of Bethesda Softworks, Microsoft had already been clear! All the publisher’s big games like Starfield, red fall or The Elder Scrolls VI
will become exclusive to Xbox upon release. So what about Activision Blizzard stamped productions?
It is still too early to say, but in its press release, the Redmond firm expresses its wish to launch the future call of duty and others Diablo in Xbox Game Pass on the day of release. Additionally, Activision Blizzard games that are already available are expected to arrive en masse within the subscription service. A source contacted by Bloomberg would have explained that Microsoft intends to release certain games published by Activision on PlayStation while granting itself exclusivity on certain very specific content.
We therefore do not yet have all the answers, but there is no doubt that Microsoft will give us details if the takeover is definitively validated. This validation may not occur before June 2023. In the meantime, Activision Blizzard will continue to operate in complete independence, and Kotick will remain in his post.
Source: XboxWire
/ Bloomberg
/ Activision Blizzard
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