Microsoft confirm shock Activision Blizzard buyout Microsoft \/ BlizzardMicrosoft have shocked the gaming world with a planned buyout of Activision Blizzard for a reported $70 billion, following a difficult period for the developer\u2019s leadership. Microsoft to acquire Activision\u2019s large portfolio of video game developer studios, bringing the likes of Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft under their umbrella by June 2023. – Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick tells employees in an internal email that he intends to stay in his current role for the foreseeable future. – Conflicting reports suggest Kotick will leave the post once the acquisition has been finalized, with a potential payout of nearly $300 million if he\u2019s axed. – This news comes in the aftermath of Activision Blizzard being hit by multiple lawsuits after allegations were made regarding their workplace environment which led to company walkouts and a drop in share prices. Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier shared some information about the shock deal on January 17, citing a report from the Wall Street Journal. Bloomberg states the landmark acquisition values Blizzard at $70 billion. He said: \u201cThe WSJ reports that Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard, the troubled publisher behind Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, which has been facing crisis over the last year following numerous reports of sexual misconduct and discrimination.\u201d BREAKING: The WSJ reports that Microsoft is buying Activision Blizzard, the troubled publisher behind Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, which has been facing crisis over the last year following numerous reports of sexual misconduct and discrimination. A seismic gaming deal \u2014 Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) January 18, 2022 The \u201cseismic gaming deal\u201d, as Jason puts it, represents a massive power shift in the industry. Microsoft confirms Activision Blizzard takeover Soon after, Microsoft confirmed the deal and the company\u2019s ambitions. On their official website, the company stated: \u201cToday, Microsoft Corp. announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc., a leader in game development and interactive entertainment content publisher. \u201cThis acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft\u2019s gaming business across mobile, PC, console, and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse.\u201d Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO of the Microsoft Corporation, said this marks \u201ca new era\u201d in gaming to make it \u201csafe, inclusive, and accessible to all\u201d. Together with @ATVI_AB, we will usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive, and accessible to all. https:\/\/t.co\/fF2Ig3gSfx \u2014 Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) January 18, 2022 Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, confirmed the takeover will be completed in June 2023. The statement from Microsoft continues: \u201cWhen the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world\u2019s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. The planned acquisition includes iconic franchises from the Activision, Blizzard and King studios like Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty and Candy Crush, in addition to global esports activities through Major League Gaming. The company has studios around the word with nearly 10,000 employees.\u201d Xbox Game Pass has been a huge beneficiary of games from Bethesda since Microsoft bought the publisher in March 2021. \u201cGaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,\u201d said Nadella. \u201cWe\u2019re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.\u201d Related stories Bobby Kotick could receive mindblowing sum to leave Activision – Will Call of Duty still be on PlayStation? – Players beg Microsoft to bring WoW to Xbox Game Pass – Phil Spencer responds to fears all Activision Blizzard games will be Xbox-exclusive – Scump explains why Microsoft buyout is \u201cexciting\u201d for competitive CoD – Bobby Kotick responds to Microsoft buyout CEO Bobby Kotick shared the following email with Blizzard employees on January 18. It reads: \u201cToday is an incredibly exciting day. As we continue our journey to connect and engage the world though epic entertainment, we will eventually do so as part of Microsoft. \u201cI am certain that our incredible talent and extraordinary games combined with our shared commitment to the very best workplace will enable us to grow in an increasingly more competitive race for leadership as gaming through the metaverse evolves.\u201d Explaining why Microsoft was the ideal suitor, he added: \u201cIn considering possible partners, all roads ultimately lead to Microsoft. Like us, they have been making games for a long time. Microsoft has already distributed games to hundreds of millions of the world\u2019s computers and computing devices and has technologies and innovation that will support the next generation of games.\u201d Is Kotick leaving Activision Blizzard? Included in the email, sent out across the company, Kotick reaffirmed his commitment to Activision Blizzard. \u201cTransactions like these can take a long time to complete. Until we receive all the necessary regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions are satisfied, which we expect to be sometime in Microsoft\u2019s fiscal 2023 year ending June 30, 2023, we will continue to operate completely autonomously. He concluded: \u201cI will continue as our CEO with the same passion and enthusiasm I had when I began this amazing journey in 1991.\u201d With that being said, conflicting reports have emerged, with The Wall Street Journal claiming the chief will be leaving his post once the deal is finalized in June 2023. According to Activision documents, courtesy of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Kotick could earn anything up to $292,970,341 if he\u2019s removed from his position at the end of that term. Fans of several franchises will be wondering \u2013 now that this deal has gone through \u2013 if their ability play Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and other games will be affected in the future. Phil Spencer opens up on future Xbox exclusivity The Xbox boss was relatively coy about the speculation surrounding Bethesda\u2019s well-known franchise titles when they completed that acquisition, and since that time the likes of Starfield and Arkane\u2019s Redfall have been confirmed as Xbox exclusives. Avid fans of Overwatch, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and others are now thinking the same could happen to their beloved games. Phil Spencer has commented on the possibility, in a chat with Bloomberg. He told them: \u201cI\u2019ll just say to players out there who are playing Activision Blizzard games on Sony\u2019s platform: It\u2019s not our intent to pull communities away from that platform and we remained committed to that.\u201d While that sounds reassuring for PlayStation players, it in no way rules out the possibility of these hitting the Xbox Game Pass in the future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Microsoft confirm shock Activision Blizzard buyout Microsoft \/ BlizzardMicrosoft have shocked the gaming world with a planned buyout of Activision Blizzard for a reported $70 billion, following a difficult period for the developer\u2019s leadership. Microsoft to acquire Activision\u2019s large portfolio of video game developer studios, bringing the likes of Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83256\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}