On the occasion of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft also announces the creation of a new company simply called Microsoft Gaming. We take stock.
Source: Arnaud Gelineau – Frandroid
This is the colossal news of the week. Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. Beyond the stratospheric nature of such news, it will also upset Microsoft’s internal organization in terms of video games. We explain to you.
New organizational chart
Behind this takeover, we find Phil Spencer, the former boss of Xbox studios, who then became boss of Xbox and who today inherits a new title: CEO of Microsoft Gaming. In Microsoft’s organization chart, this new structure will now oversee the entire video game division. Given the title of CEO, we can think that it is simply a new company, where the gaming part of Microsoft could previously be considered as a simple branch.
As the Redmond firm writes in its press release announcing the takeover, “Once the transaction is completed, the operations of Activision Blizzard will report to Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming. » Until the deal is complete, Activision Blizzard and Microsoft Gaming will continue to operate independently of each other. The complete organization chart of this new structure has already been communicated. From what we understand, the Xbox brand should now evolve under the control of this new entity.
In fact, the entire organization chart as presented here is made up of people who have worked at Xbox before. No personality from the head of Activision Blizzard therefore joins this new structure, at least at the top of the organization chart.
We already have a small idea of what this company will focus on. We will already have to take care of managing “the 25 million Game Pass subscribers” according to the figure communicated by Microsoft on the occasion of the takeover. The cloud should also continue to grow, as Phil Spencer’s statement suggests: “Together, we will build a future where people can play the games they want, virtually anywhere. »
The development of Microsoft’s Metaverse should also occupy the company quite a bit, according to Satya Nadella, president and CEO of Microsoft, who says that the new entity will play a key role in it, quite logically.
We can also have an idea of the size of the company once the takeover has been completed. “Upon closing, Microsoft will have 30 in-house game development studios, as well as additional esports publishing and production capabilities. » The Redmont firm is also betting on the “400 million active players” Activision Blizzard franchises.
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