Microsoft has finally bought Activision Blizzard

13.10.2023 - 13:15 / eurogamer.net / Phil Spencer / Bobby Kotick

Microsoft has now formally acquired Activision Blizzard, via the biggest company buyout in video games industry history.

Today's long-awaited closure of the deal brings to an end a process that has dragged on through almost two years of regulatory approvals and legal wrangling. Finally, however, it is done — hours after the UK ultimately gave the deal a green light.

Microsoft now owns Activision, including the world's biggest first-person shooter franchise Call of Duty, plus the rights to Spyro, Skylanders, and Guitar Hero.

Microsoft also now owns Blizzard, home to World of Warcraft, and the maker of the Diablo series, Overwatch, StarCraft and Hearthstone.

And perhaps most importantly for Microsoft — and most lucratively — it now owns Activision Blizzard's giant mobile division King. Its mobile game smash hit Candy Crush Saga has raked in more than $20bn alone.

For Activision Blizzard staff — all 17,000 of them worldwide — the acquisition marks a new chapter in the company's history. But, for now at least, the firm remains headed by controversial boss Bobby Kotick, who has repeatedly come under fire as Activision Blizzard struggled to reckon with a wave of harassment and misconduct allegations over the past couple of years.

«As one team, we'll learn, innovate, and continue to deliver on our promise to bring the joy and community of gaming to more people,» Xbox boss Phil Spencer said today in a blog post on the buyout. «We'll do this in a culture that strives to empower everyone to do their best work, where all people are welcome, and is centered on our ongoing commitment of Gaming for Everyone. We are intentional about inclusion in everything we do at Xbox — from our team to the products we make and the stories we tell, to the way our players interact and engage as a wider gaming community.»

Microsoft first signalled its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard in January 2022, for the enormous sum of $68.7bn. This figure dwarfs that of any other video games industry buyout — the closest being Grand Theft Auto publisher Take-Two's 2022 acquisition of mobile giant Zynga for $12.7bn.

It's the latest — and by far the biggest — in a string of acquisitions for Microsoft, after it bought Bethesda parent company ZeniMax for $8.1bn in 2020. This followed a flurry of buyouts through 2018 and 2019 that saw Microsoft snaffle up Ninja Theory, Undead labs, Compulsion Games, Playground Games, InXile Entertainment, Obsidian and Double Fine.

Microsoft has spent billions on bolstering its first-party video game output — far more than PlayStation — over recent years, as part of a growing trend of consolidation across the industry. And Sony has also been a part of this, buying up Bungie in 2022 for $3.7bn.

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