Microsoft’s biggest ever acquisition , and the biggest deal in gaming industry history, was officially announced on Tuesday, the 18th of January, as Microsoft completed an all-cash deal worth almost $70 billion to acquire titan game developer and publisher Activision Blizzard. The deal makes Microsoft the third largest gaming company in the world.
Activision Blizzard is known for producing some of the world’s most played video games such as Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Overwatch, the Warcraft series, Diablo, Candy Crush Saga, and many, many more.
Sponsored
According to Microsoft News Center, in making the deal, Microsoft aims to provide building blocks for the metaverse and grow its gaming business across all mobile, PC, console, and cloud services.
“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” said Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”
“Players everywhere love Activision Blizzard games, and we believe the creative teams have their best work in front of them. Together we will build a future where people can play the games they want, virtually anywhere they want,”
said Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming.
On the Flipside
- Activision Blizzard has struggled with complaints about alleged sexual harassment, and a toxic work environment over the past decade.
- Three billion people around the world play video games today, and the number is expected to increase to around 4.5 billion by 2030, Microsoft reported.
