Posted on 01/18/2022 7:51:30 AM PST by Houserino
Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard, the publisher and associated developer of many titles including the Call of Duty franchise.
Announced today on an Xbox Wire post, Microsoft has agreed to acquire Activision Blizzard, which includes the development teams at Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, Demonware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, and Treyarch. Microsoft's purchase is set to cost $68.7 billion.
Microsoft has stated that Activision Blizzard will operate independently until the deal is complete, but Phil Spencer does note that once the deal is complete the business will report to him. In an email sent to Activision Blizzard staff (via CharlieIntel), current CEO Bobby Kotick - who is set to remain at the head of the company until the deal is finalised - said that "transactions like these can take a long time to complete," and the process is expected to end in Microsoft's 2023 financial year, which ends on June 30, 2023.
(Excerpt) Read more at gamesradar.com ...
This is huge in the gaming world. 'inclusive" buzzaord alert.
Lets see if it works in the long run or Microsoft screws this up. Lots of money for a gaming company.
Wow. Look out for censorship in gaming, to control thought.
$70 billion for Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, Demonware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, and Treyarch.
And I’ve heard of none of them. Well, I do recall the “Activision” name 20 years ago (maybe).
Blizzard is World of Warcraft. Way past its prime, but was one of the biggest PC games ever.
The last computer game I played was “Myst.” Not the reboot...the very original.
Have you heard of Call of Duty, Diablo, or World of Warcraft?
“Gaming” = gambling
Lipstick on a pig.
Riven is an absolutely fantastic sequel.
At the end of 2020, America’s largest gas supplier, EQT, which supplies about 4+% of the total energy demand in the USA, was valued at $4 billion.
At the same time, Facebook had a valuation of $1 Trillion.
EQT has risen, and is now valued at $8 billion, and yet Microsoft is paying $70 billion for a gaming company.
Does America have its priorities mixed-up? Or is it just “economics?”
They also get King with this, which makes Candy Crush. Again, way past its prime but still a major deal.
Everyone’s saying this is a move to go after Zuck
Looks like a way to force exclusive content to their xbox platform. I don’t see how this benefits competition. Of course the play lip service to support of other platforms at the buyout but we all know that’s boilerplate like the old no one will lose their jobs as a result of a merger.
Embrace, extend, extinguish.
Up over $18.00 a share. I sold.
Activision has been around awhile - they made a lot of games for the Atari 2600.
Wonder why this was moved to ‘chat’. It’s one of the biggest news stories on the net today.
They fired a ton of people yesterday and had fired many more earlier, all accused of sexual misconduct. The company has been in turmoil for months.
Activision had to sell because they could not get away from several sexual harassment allegations. They were buried in controversy.
MS has done well with recent acquisitions ( LinkedIn, GitHub..) This isn’t Ballmer’s Microsoft anymore.
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