Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard for nearly $70 billion

Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard was the major news of the week. Microsoft revealed today that it will buy the gaming company Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. Microsoft is already striving to become the world’s third-largest gaming company after Sony and Tencent.

Last year, the new deal outperformed Microsoft’s $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda, the studio behind Doom and Fallout games.

Microsoft is betting on the future of the gaming industry in the next few years. We saw Metaverse’s popularity surge in the fourth quarter of last year, so betting on gaming over the next few years could be one of Microsoft’s best moves in recent times.

Shares of Blizzard rose more than 30% today to $86 due to the acquisition. Blizzard’s current market cap of $64.1 billion is nearly $4 billion less than the value of its most recent acquisition.

Blizzard’s acquisition by Microsoft was a perfect opportunity for the company to distance itself from its former leadership, which received a lot of negative press following allegations in August 2021 that the company abused female employees.

Fortunately, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick will step down after the Microsoft deal is finalized.

In terms of how this acquisition will affect gamers, we can expect to see more exclusive games and DLC released exclusively for the Xbox system. Halo Infinite, which is only accessible on PC and Xbox systems, is a good example.

Microsoft’s new acquisition is definitely a strategic move to gain a competitive advantage over Sony and give people a more compelling reason to choose an Xbox over a Play Station device. But, of course, it’s only natural, since Microsoft has spent billions acquiring some of the biggest and most profitable gaming companies in the industry.

This could indicate that future Call of Duty games could be accessible on platforms like Windows and Xbox, which Microsoft claims.

While it’s too early to tell if Blizzard games will start shipping exclusively for Microsoft platforms, it’s clear that Microsoft is looking for a more significant gaming business unit. Choosing a well-known title for your Control Center is a quick way to gain significant benefits in customers and revenue.