Following on from its acquisitions of Bethesda, Obsidian, and Ninja Theory, Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard.
Activision Blizzard, the company behind series such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft, has been in the news lately due to abuse allegations and accusations of a toxic work culture.
The turmoil has led to strike action at the company, as well as calls for CEO Bobby Kotick to stand down.
Xbox head Phil Spencer recently said that Microsoft is evaluating its relationship with Activision Blizzard. In hindsight, perhaps he was preparing us for today’s news.
“Until this transaction closes, Activision Blizzard and Microsoft Gaming will continue to operate independently,” Phil Spencer said in the announcement. “Once the deal is complete, the Activision Blizzard business will report to me as CEO, Microsoft Gaming.”
According to Bloomberg, Microsoft paid $68.7 billion for the deal. Both old and new games from Activision Blizzard will pop up on Xbox and PC’s Game Pass subscription service, which now has over 25 million subscribers.
“As a company, Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players,” Spencer said, addressing the elephant in the room. “We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.”
Written by Kirk McKeand on behalf of GLHF.
