Microsoft Announces Activision Blizzard Acquisition In Blockbuster Deal

Written by Brandon Hofer on January 18, 2022

News: The house of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, and more have just going Microsoft’s gaming stable.

Microsoft is purchasing Activision Blizzard. We aren’t even three weeks into 2022 yet and we already have what will probably be the biggest story of the year. When Microsoft bought Bethesda it was seen as a major announcement, regardless of whether you were for or against Bethesda joining Microsoft’s stable. This transaction is on a whole other level though with Microsoft reportedly paying $68.7 billion for Activision Blizzard. To put that staggering number into context, Microsoft paid $7.5 billion for Bethesda and that transaction was finalized less than a year ago.

Now Activision Blizzard will operate under the Microsoft Gaming label and the number of studios and franchises Microsoft owns has expanded exponentially. There are “hot takes” all over the internet already about this acquisition but it can’t be understated how big it is. As we saw with the Bethesda acquisition, these deals take a long time to come to fruition, if it gets approval from the required parties. With that being the case it looks like this deal probably won’t be finalized until Summer 2023. It could happen sooner than that obviously but that is probably the timeline we are looking at for the completion of this transaction.

Up until the deal is actually finalized, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will still act independently. Even once the deal goes through (if it does) I expect that Microsoft will most likely leave Activision Blizzard alone to do their own thing as they have done with other studios they have acquired over the last few year. Of course one of the questions that gamers have revolves around exclusivity. Phil Spencer has stated they don’t intend to pull games away from other platforms. Microsoft certainly has some history to back that up with Minecraft being on pretty much every platform known to man. The Bethesda titles are still a bit of a question mark though. A brand new franchise like Starfield from Bethesda will indeed be an Xbox console exclusive. Nobody knows what will happen with Elder Scrolls 6 though. There are those who naturally assume the next Elder Scrolls will be a console exclusive on Xbox but Microsoft has not officially confirmed whether or not that will be the case so we just have to wait and see for that small (but important) detail. I expect the same will hold true for Activision Blizzard franchises, at least in the short term. I can’t see Microsoft restricting Call of Duty to only Xbox, for example. It is anyone’s guess though and the possibility of Call of Duty becoming Xbox console exclusive does exist, even if I personally think there is a small chance of that happening.

Another immediate question is how this will affect Game Pass. Game Pass is already a robust service but with Activision Blizzard’s library being added to it, the value proposition goes from “insane” to “absolutely insane”. Imagine if you can play the new Call of Duty game on Day 1 on Xbox for “free” as an Xbox Game Pass member. Imagine if World of Warcraft finally comes to console but is free with a Game Pass subscription. There are a lot of possibilities that could happen now and it is kind of exciting to think about where they might go next.

Some of the franchises that Microsoft now owns if this deal goes through includes Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Spyro, Tony Hawk, Candy Crush, Sekiro, Blur, Prototype, Crash Bandicoot, and many more, including a bunch of old school franchises that haven’t been seen in a really long time. Could be possibly see the reemergence of some of these classics? Maybe, at least, make them backward compatible and put them on PC Game Pass or Xbox Game Pass, or both?

When thinking about what Microsoft might now own, that includes 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, Treyarch, and every other team in the Activision Blizzard stable. As you can see this acquisition isn’t just about games. They will now own Demonware which helps with online services, as well as Major League Gaming which is one of the top esports organizations. It is kind of wild if you really stop to think about everything Microsoft is getting with this acquisition.

A merger of this size requires approval from a number of different parties, which is one of the reasons why it takes so long to get finalized. Assuming that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard get the required approvals, what do you want to see happen first? A bunch of older Activision Blizzard games show up on Game Pass? World of Warcraft on Xbox? A franchise that is given a second chance like Blur? The possibilities are endless if this deal becomes finalized.