Xbox format holder Microsoft has announced a monumental business deal this afternoon with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for the earths-shattering sum of $68.7 billion.
The news means that Microsoft will now be in possession of some of the industry’s most iconic franchise, such as Call of Duty, Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcrat.
Bobby Kotick is set to remain in place as CEO of Activision Blizzard, while all business within the company will report to Microsoft Gaming CEO, Phil Spencer.
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.
Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of Microsoft, added:
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. 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.
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Xbox Game Pass will also be bolstered by the acquisition, with plans in place to launch Activision Blizzard titles on the service, which currently stands at over 25 million subscribers worldwide.
This is an absolutely massive deal no matter which way you slice it, and presumably it means that Call of Duty, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, and others will no longer be on a PlayStation platform at some point in the future.
[Source – Microsoft]