Microsoft Officially Acquires Activision Blizzard, Nearly Two Years Later

13.10.2023 - 16:33 / gamespot.com / Phil Spencer / Eddie Makuch / Bobby Kotick

Microsoft is apparently not spooked by closing the deal on the unlucky day of Friday the 13th.

By Eddie Makuch on

Microsoft has officially closed its deal to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, marking Microsoft's biggest acquisition of all time and one of the largest in the history of the business world across all sectors. The deal faced a good amount of regulatory pressure, as Microsoft faced scrutiny from government groups around the world. Key legal battles took place in the United States and the UK. Microsoft announced the deal in February 2022. The announcement of the deal closing came just hours after the UK's CMA itself signed off, and this was the final regulatory hurdle that Microsoft needed to clear to close the deal.

A key concern from the CMA centered on cloud gaming, and to help close the deal, Microsoft sold cloud-gaming rights to Ubisoft.

«All the games that are coming from Activision Blizzard in the next 15 years and those games that exist now, we have those streaming rights in perpetuity,» Ubisoft said inits own announcement pertaining to the closure of the deal today.

Microsoft is paying Activision Blizzard $95 per share for the buyout. Microsoft's previous biggest acquisition was LinkedIn, which it paid $26.2 billion to acquire in 2016. For comparison, Disney bought Lucasfilm and the Star Wars series for $4.05 billion.

As part of the buyout, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is apparently planning to resign. Other high-ranking Activision Blizzard C-suite executives are leaving, too. Kotick will stay on through the end of 2023 and will report to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer to help with the transition. Kotick is reported to be getting a $400 million pay package as part of his eventual exit.

«As a result of the Merger and pursuant to the Merger Agreement, each of Reveta Bowers, Kerry Carr, Robert Corti, Brian Kelly, Robert Kotick, Barry Meyer, Robert Morgado, Peter Nolan and Dawn Ostroff resigned and ceased to be directors of the Company and members of any committee or subcommittee of the Company’s Board of Directors as of the Effective Time, and Keith R. Dolliver and Benjamin O. Orndorff, who constituted the directors of Merger Sub as of immediately prior to the Effective Time, became the directors of the Company.»

Do not expect Activision or Blizzard games to appear on Game Pass today or even soon, though. The Game Pass Twitter/X account said work «can now begin» to bring games from Activision Blizzard and King to Game Pass. «We can't wait to share more details in the coming months,» Microsoft said.

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer reacted to the deal closing, writing, «As one team, we'll learn, innovate, and continue to deliver on our promise to bring the joy and community