Long-time Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick is leaving the company following its acquisition by Microsoft in October. Kotick will depart on 29th December, with Microsoft largely keeping the company’s core leadership intact outside of this.
08.12.2023 - 15:51 / gamingbolt.com / Jacqueline Scott Corley
A couple of months after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the United States Federal Trade Commission has approached a federal appeals court this week to unwind the deal. According to CNN, the FTC has argued that district judge Jacqueline Scott Corley went too far with her ruling allowing the acquisition.
Following the FTC’s previous lawsuits to block the acquisition, the governing body has now approached the federal court to try and undo it. Since the FTC’s arguments against the acquisition revolved around anti-trust issues that could pop up as a result of Microsoft controlling the massive Call of Duty franchise, the company offered agreements to its competitors in order to allow the acquisition to go through.
The FTC’s argument once again points out that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard could give the company a monopoly when it comes to offering services like subscriptions, like PC and Xbox Game Pass.
“I fail to understand how giving somebody a monopoly of something would be pro-competitive,” said FTC attorney Imad Dean Abyad, an FTC attorney to the appeals court. “It may be a benefit to some class of consumers, but that is very different than saying it is pro-competitive.”
Microsoft’s attorney, Rakesh Kilaru, argued that previous rulings by governing bodies approved the acquisition based on “clear factual findings”.
“It is not a violation of the antitrust laws to give consumers something new, that’s beneficial,” Kilaru said, “unless they present some evidence of it, which they didn’t do.”
Abyad goes on to state that a big reason for the acqusition being allowed was thanks to the contracts Microsoft offered to companies like Nvidia and Nintendo, which came into play only after the FTC filed its complaints. Abyad states that this mean that the “facts were changing all along”.
“What the district court relied on, mostly, are contracts that were entered into after the [FTC] complaint was filed,” Abyad said. “The facts were changing all along. Even after the district court decided the case, Microsoft went ahead and entered into yet another contract [to restructure the cloud licensing rights].”
While the acquisition seems to be going strong for Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, Phil Spencer stated back in October that we shouldn’t expect to see the latter’s games on Game Pass any time soon. Spencer stated that adding titles to the subscription service tends to be a long process, and that we likely won’t see the games become available on Game Pass before 2024.
Long-time Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick is leaving the company following its acquisition by Microsoft in October. Kotick will depart on 29th December, with Microsoft largely keeping the company’s core leadership intact outside of this.
Long-time Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick is leaving the company following its acquisition by Microsoft in October. Kotick will depart on 29th December, with Microsoft largely keeping the company’s leadership intact outside of this.
Activision Blizzard boss Robert Kotick is stepping down as CEO.
Microsoft announced that Activision Blizzard CEO is finally stepping down, effective December 29. He is not the only high-profile departure, though Microsoft intends to leave most of the company’s management in place.
Microsoft has announced that Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, will be stepping down on December 29th. Instead of a replacement, Blizzard president Mike Ybarra and Activision publishing president Rob Kostich will report to Microsoft Gaming game content and studios president Matt Booty, per The Verge. Activision Blizzard vice chair Thomas Tippl is also leaving in March 2024 but reports to Booty till then.
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Controversial Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick will depart the company on 29th December, it's been announced.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will leave the company on December 29 after 32 years, and remaining Activision Blizzard executives such as Blizzard Entertainment president Mike Ybarra, Activision Publishing president Rob Kostich, and Activision Blizzard vice chairman Thomas Tippl will be overseen by Microsoft Gaming game content and studios president Matt Booty.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will officially leave the company on December 29, it’s been confirmed.
It's pretty clear that Sony wasn't a huge fan of Microsoft managing to get its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard over the line. You don't go through the trials and tribulations of a court case if you're fine with something happening, but Sony hasn't been too clear on just how much it thinks the acquisition will affect its own business. Turns out, it's actually worried quite a bit.
Activision Blizzard is ending its hybrid work policy for its quality assurance teams, requiring in-office work for QA employees in El Segundo, Austin, and Minneapolis. The ABK Workers Alliance has pushed back against this mandate, calling the move a «soft layoff.»
Sony has privately described Microsoft's $68.7bn takeover of Activision Blizzard as a potential «leapfrog» moment for its long-term console rival to take the lead.