Following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, has revealed that the company is “looking forward to really doubling down both as a game producer and a publisher”.
18.10.2023 - 14:53 / pcgamer.com / Phil Spencer
Whether you think Microsoft's recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard is a move toward a dry gaming monopoly or a financial windfall for Activision and Blizzard games both, it's definitely happened. The UK's CMA has given the thumbs up, Kotick's on his way out—the deal's closed, and now we get to see the impact ripples spread.
It looks like there's already some great news for fans of Activision Blizzard's older catalogue, as confirmed by Spencer himself in an official interview on the Xbox channel. «I do think with Game Pass that we have the ability to pick a couple franchises every year and almost do like a 'revisited' [version]—I just made up that term … when you look across the franchises that are part of our teams, there's an opportunity to go back.»
There really is a huge catalogue to cover—two of gaming's biggest companies merging for a second time with Microsoft? That's miles of fertile ground to dig up for remakes and remasters. Still, Spencer insists he's not keen on cash grabs. «I wanna make sure that when we go back and visit something that we do it with our complete ability … not just create something for financial gain (or a PR announcement), and not deliver.»
Ultimately, while he's got his own wishlist (the return of FPS classic Hexen is a running gag), Spencer says it's important for these fresh coats of paint to be a result of developer passion: «If teams wanna go back and revisit some of the things we have, and do a full focus on it, I'm gonna be all in. I think there's an amazing trove of [games] we can go and touch on again.
»I think about things like the Quake 2 remaster that just came out from [id Software], I thought that was awesome. They did a real good job revisiting a game, making it current, but not leaving its history behind. I'd love to see more things like that."
These are all plans for the future, though—Spencer says it's likely we won't be seeing Activision-Blizzard's catalogue coming to Game Pass this year. «The truth of the matter is with Activision-Blizzard King is that the regulatory process took so long … we weren't able to get in and work with Activision-Blizzard on that back catalogue. Now that the deal is closed, we're starting that work, but there is work.»
Following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, has revealed that the company is “looking forward to really doubling down both as a game producer and a publisher”.
Microsoft has announced an upcoming Xbox Partner Preview broadcast event set for October 25 at 10am Pacific / 1pm Eastern / 6pm UK.
Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard games won't appear on Xbox Game Pass until next year. On the Official Xbox Podcast, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer claimed that players wouldn't be seeing a big drop of those titles immediately, due to the lengthy regulatory challenges the company faced in its buyout attempt. Since it was uncertain whether the acquisition would be approved by Britain's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) until recently, Xbox wasn't able to do the groundwork for adding the catalogue to their gaming subscription service. Ahead of the deal's closure, Activision Blizzard confirmed on Twitter that the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III and newly-launched Diablo IV won't be coming to Game Pass soon, but Spencer's statement covers older titles as well.
Phil Spencer has renewed his promises that Call of Duty will have 100 % parity across all platforms.
US tech giant Microsoft has completed its acquisition of games giant Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft has completed their vast $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, less than half a day after the UK Competition Markets Authority (CMA) gave their approval to a revised package of concessions.
After two years co-piloting the biggest acquisition in video game history past an onslaught of challenges, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer now moves on to his next quest: making Microsoft's takeover of Activision Blizzard worth the hassle. Microsoft, which owns the Xbox gaming system, closed its $69 billion deal to buy game-maker Activision Blizzard on Friday after fending off global opposition from antitrust regulators and rivals.
NVIDIA has confirmed via its Customer Help page that GeForce NOW pricing is set to increase in Europe and Canada starting on November 1st.
Xbox maker Microsoft closed its $69 billion (nearly Rs. 5,75,620 crore) deal for Activision Blizzard on Friday, swelling its heft in the video-gaming market with best-selling titles including Call of Duty to better compete with industry leader Sony.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is finally complete, with the $68.7 billion deal gaining approval from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). In a new email to employees, CEO Bobby Kotick has confirmed that he will stay on until the end of 2023 to help with the transition.
Microsoft has beencleared to acquire Activision Blizzard by UK regulators, removing the last hurdle standing in the way of closing the deal.
Microsoft is apparently not spooked by closing the deal on the unlucky day of Friday the 13th.