It was a more difficult birth than usual, but Microsoft owns Activision

In recent years, we have witnessed a clear transformation of the video game industry. Every year there are one or two acquisition announcements, sometimes smaller and sometimes larger scale deals. There was clearly the biggest uproar around Microsoft, which perhaps really picked up with the acquisition of Zenimax Media in 2020.

However, even the business that has been shaking spirits in the video game market since the beginning of 2022 is dwarfed by it. That’s when Microsoft tried to buy it Activision Blizzard Kinget. In fact, we could already consider this the official date of the acquisition, except that it is a deal of such far-reaching significance and so many components that it entailed a more serious official investigation and for a long time it was not even clear whether it could be carried out at all.

Well, this has now also been concluded, which examined, among other things, how the acquisition could have a harmful effect on the cloud gaming market. In the end, the British Competition Authority only approved the acquisition in such a form that the parts related to cloud gaming were removed from it. In other words, it is now official that Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard King for $68.7 billion. An important detail of the deal is that the parties sold the aforementioned cloud gaming business to the French Ubisoft instead of Microsoft, thereby ensuring that Microsoft does not end up in an unfairly advantageous position on the market.

It is also worth mentioning that after the twenty-month acquisition process is over, we can expect a change in a very important position: Bobby Kotick, attacked by many, will leave the head of Activision Blizzard – but not right away. Leaked internal company correspondence revealed that Kotick will remain in his current position until the end of 2023, after which he will leave. His personality is also interesting because in recent years, he has been demanded to leave several times due to the cover-up of abuses, ___ual harassment cases and the like within the company. In comparison, some sources report that Kotick will be able to pocket no less than 400 million dollars upon his departure…

How Activision Blizzard’s acquisition of King will affect the video game industry is hard to predict for now. It is certain that serious changes may come in the coming years, which concern the biggest titles of the long-established publisher. One of the biggest of these is undoubtedly Call of Duty, which will remain on PlayStation consoles for the time being, but it is possible that over time this platform may fade into the background, or even lose the franchise. On the other hand, it is almost safe to say that the PlayStation-exclusive attitude typical of recent years will cease. But the situation of Diablo, World of Warcraft and Overwatch could also be interesting in the future.