It’s a thunderclap in the video game industry. Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard and has probably dropped one of the most monumental bombs in the entertainment industry in recent years. Bill Gates’ group has laid eyes on what can safely be called the biggest contract ever in the gaming. The deal, at nearly $70 billion, will see Microsoft become the third-biggest games company by revenue, behind dragon Tencent and Japan’s Sony. The ambition is clearly to “own” the two leaders (in other words, “to defeat them” in the language of geeks).
franchises such as World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty and candy Crush are now in the hands of the American giant. This has the effect of adding a lot of value to Gamepass, Microsoft’s video game subscription business, and its 25 million users. You could even say that with the help of the 400 million monthly active players in 190 countries, Activision Blizzard will take Xbox to new heights.
In the background, we can clearly imagine that the acquisition is strategic in the wake of the development of the metaverse. A term so fashionable lately, especially after the rebranding from Facebook to Meta. After announcing two months ago that it was going to develop virtual environments and avatars in 3D environments through its Teams collaborative work application, it’s a safe bet that Microsoft is interweaving its metaverse solutions and its activity gaming. We can already imagine ourselves facing our adversaries: orcs, trolls, tauren, blood elves, goblins and other monstrosities with our augmented reality headset. The main thing will be not to throw yourself against a wall in the real world.
Drawing by Amandine Victor