After obtaining final approval from the British regulatory authorities, Microsoft has just confirmed the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King into its ranks. This is the end of this historic operation launched two years ago now.
It is now done. After almost two years of negotiations and daggers drawn negotiations, Microsoft has finally officially announced the acquisition of the giant Activision Blizzard King from its ranks, for an astronomical amount of 68.7 billion dollars. The deal comes just hours after UK regulator CMA approved Microsoft’s restructured acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft formalizes the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King
“We love games. We play games, create games, and know first-hand how much gaming means to all of us as individuals and collectively, as a community. And today we officially welcome Activision Blizzard and its teams to Xbox. They are the publishers of some of the most played and beloved franchises in console, PC and mobile gaming history. From Pitfall to Call of Duty, from World of Warcraft to Overwatch, from Candy Crunch to Farm Heroes Saga, their studios have pushed the boundaries of gaming for gamers everywhere,” announced Phil Spencer, the boss of Xbox, in an official press release.
As a reminder, this buyout marks an important step for the 17,000 employees across the world of Activision Blizzard King. For good reason, the company has gone through a complicated period, marked in particular by numerous scandals and allegations of harassment and misconduct under the leadership of the very controversial Bobby Kotick. Note also that the CEO will remain in place until the end of 2023. On the other hand, his retention in the post is most uncertain after this date.
As Phil Spencer’s statement proves, Microsoft is determined to put an end to this dark side of Activision Blizzard : “We will do so in a culture that strives to empower everyone to do their best, and that is centered on our continued commitment to play for all,” assured the executive of the American giant.
Also read – Guitar Hero could make its comeback thanks to the acquisition of Activision by Microsoft
Microsoft forced to make a concession to get the buyout approved
British antitrust authorities initially attempted to block Microsoft’s acquisition of the Call of Duty maker. Microsoft responded by agreeing to sell Activision Blizzard’s rights to cloud games to Ubisoft.
The French video game publisher will obtain streaming rights from Activision’s cloud for all games on PC and consoles for the next 15 years, but only in markets outside the European Economic Area. Within the EEA, Ubisoft will receive a “ non-exclusive license to sell, distribute and sublicense the rights to play cloud streaming versions of Activision games “. This means that Microsoft will also be able to access cloud streaming rights for Activision games in Europe.
The CMA describes Microsoft’s concession as a ” game changer that will promote competition » in the growing cloud gaming market. “ With the sale of Activision’s rights to Ubisoft, we have ensured that Microsoft cannot gain control over this important and rapidly growing market. “, says Sarah Cardell, chief executive of the CMA. “ As cloud gaming grows, this intervention will allow consumers to benefit from more competitive prices, better services and greater choice. We are the only competition agency in the world to have achieved this result “.
For the record, this acquisition is the most important in the history of video games and allows the owner of the Xbox to take control of games such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush. However, These games will not come to Xbox Game Pass right away, with these expected to be added gradually starting in 2024.