Microsoft announced on October 13 that it has completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard after receiving approval from the UK’s antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). This means that after more than 20 months of hard work, Microsoft finally successfully acquired Activision Blizzard.
Activision Blizzard is the publisher of games such as “Call of Duty,” “World of Warcraft” and “Diablo.” In January last year, Microsoft announced it would acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. After the transaction is completed, Microsoft will become the third-largest gaming company in the world by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony.
Subsequently, multiple regulatory agencies around the world launched investigations into the transaction. Today, Microsoft finally won the last pass needed for this deal from the British CMA. Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s Xbox business, said: “We all love games. Not only playing games, but also developing games, we can experience firsthand what games mean to individuals, collectives and communities. Today, we officially welcome Activision Blizzard and their The team comes to Xbox.”
The deal is the largest acquisition Microsoft has ever made, far exceeding the $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn in 2016 and the $7.5 billion acquisition of game publisher Bethesda in 2021. At the same time, this is also the largest action Microsoft has ever taken in the gaming market. After the transaction is completed, Microsoft will become the third largest gaming company in the world.
Phil Spencer also said that Microsoft now plans to add many of Activision Blizzard’s games to the Xbox Game Pass subscription service. “Today, we’re starting to bring popular Activision, Blizzard, and King games to Game Pass and other platforms,” he said. “We’ll have more to announce in the coming months. We know everyone is excited. ,So are we.”
Earlier this week, Activision Blizzard made it clear that Modern Warfare 3 and Diablo IV will not be coming to Xbox Game Pass this year. As early as January 2022, Microsoft revealed that the number of Xbox Game Pass subscribers had reached 25 million. But since then, Microsoft has not updated its new subscription numbers.
After acquiring Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s Xbox game studios will add more than nine game studios from Blizzard and more than 11 game studios from King. At the same time, Microsoft will also transform into a publishing giant, and more than 8,500 Activision Blizzard employees will join Microsoft.