Activision Blizzard Confirms Layoffs on the Hearthstone Team After Former Employees Share Job Losses

It’s been a long time coming, but after the FTC’s failed attempt to stop the acquisition it was just a matter of time, and after Microsoft agreed to license out it’s cloud divion, the British CMA have finally given the green light, mere hours later, Xbox closed the deal and Activision, Blizzard and King are now part of the Xbox family.

Following the confirmation earlier today (October 13) that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard has been closed, it’s been announced that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will be staying in his role until the end of the year, but it's implied that he'll be stepping down in 2024.

It was a long battle for Microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard. The video game industry had been watching this deal closely ever since Microsoft made the bid to merge the company under the Microsoft brand for an astonishing $68 billion. This deal brought massive numbers, but it wasn’t a smooth process. The regulators in various markets had to cover this deal closely, with the CMA being the last to give their approval. We knew that approval was coming in a matter of days as we entered this month. The approval was given today, and now we’re seeing the reactions.

Following confirmation of Microsoft’s buyout of Activision Blizzard, controversial CEO Bobby Kotick has confirmed he will remain boss of the Call of Duty maker only until the end of 2023.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has given players on rival consoles, most notably PS5, some reassuring words about future exclusivity, or lack thereof. 

Microsoft has finally closed their deal to acquire and merge with Activision Blizzard King.

It's official: Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard, the company behind franchises like Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcraft, for a colossal $69 billion. 

It's official: Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard, the company behind franchises like Call of Duty, Overwatch, Diablo, and World of Warcraft. 

After initially blocking the deal, the Competition and Markets Authority in the United Kingdom has approved Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Following provisional approval last month, the authority has given the green light after the company announced the selling of cloud streaming rights for Activision Blizzard’s titles to Ubisoft.

The road seems clear for Microsoft to close its acquisition of Activision Blizzard by October 18th, though the company still requires approval from the Consumer Markets Authority (CMA). It was provisionally approved by the authority following some alterations last month. While the jury is still out, people “familiar with the matter” say the changes won’t require another probe from the European Commission, says Bloomberg.

Previously only available to SDCC 2023 attendees, the limited edition World of Warcraft Grom Hellscream Signed Print by Chris Metzen is now available in the online Blizzard Gear Store. After his return to Blizzard late last year, Blizzard recently announced that Chris Metzen has been promoted to Executive Creative Director for the Warcraft Universe to craft the next generation of Warcraft adventures. Celebrate the origins of Warcraft and Chris Metzen's return with this limited edition Grom Hellscream artwork!

As reported by Bleeping Computer, Sony Interactive Entertainment sent a notification to around 6,800 former and current employees informing them that a cybersecurity breach had exposed their personal information. It is believed that the breach occurred on May 28 when an “unauthorized party exploited a zero-day vulnerability in the MOVEit Transfer platform.”