Microsoft's Brad Smith Calls UK's CMA "Tough And Fair" Regarding Pushback On Activision Blizzard Acquisition

Xbox’s first-party studio lineup in 2017 consisted of five studios and a publishing arm: Rare, Turn 10, 343 Industries, The Coalition, Mojang Studios, and Xbox Game Studios Publishing. Today, six years later, Microsoft owns more than 50 studios, thanks to various acquisitions over the years.

While the next title by developer MachineGames has been shrouded in quite a bit of mystery—all we know about it is that it’s based on the Indiana Jones franchise—fans think that they might have discovered the game’s official title. As caught by IGN, Twitter user Kurakasis revealed on the social media platform that the believe that the game will be titled Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.

A former Activision Blizzard executive has filed a discrimination claim with the company, alleging it of discriminating against «old white guys».

Microsoft Corp. executive Dee Templeton has joined OpenAI's board as a nonvoting observer, according to a person familiar with the matter, as part of a broader boardroom overhaul following the brief ouster of the startup's chief executive officer (CEO) Sam Altman. Templeton has worked at Microsoft for more than 25 years and is the company's vice president for technology and research partnerships and operations, according to her LinkedIn profile. She has already begun attending board meetings, according to the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters. OpenAI and Microsoft declined to comment. 

 Microsoft president Brad Smith has softened his stance on the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) following the completion of the Activision Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft.

Microsoft President Brad Smith has softened his stance on the UK regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, following the Microsoft – Activision deal.

Microsoft president Brad Smith has seemingly walked back on comments criticising the UK over the handling of its Activision Blizzard deal.

Microsoft president Brad Smith has changed his tone somewhat towards UK regulatory body the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), admitting its initial plan to block the company's Activision Blizzard buyout was «tough and fair».

While Microsoft has now officially acquired Activision Blizzard, the company had to restructure the deal to win the approval of the UK's Competition and Markets Authority regulator, which originally found the deal concerning for a variety of reasons. Microsoft's president, Brad Smith, wasn't happy about the original verdict, meeting it with some harsh words, but it seems like things have changed since, now that the deal has finally gone through.

By Tom Warren, a senior editor covering Microsoft, PC gaming, console, and tech. He founded WinRumors, a site dedicated to Microsoft news, before joining The Verge in 2012.

This July, Blizzard announced it would bring back its games to Steam after several years of absence, beginning with Overwatch 2. However, the team-based first-person shooter game's debut on Valve's platform was marred by severe review bombing. Overwatch 2 actually became the lowest-rated game of all time on Steam when it first became available there. While the game isn't quite as popular as its predecessor, it still is a solid product that shouldn't be rated anywhere near as low. The main factor was the cancellation of the PvE mode, which angered fans due to the developer's broken promise, but that's not the whole story.

It's official: Bobby Kotick has left Activision Blizzard. After 32 years of leading the company, originally just Activision before the Blizzard merger, the controversial CEO is gone, having seen the Microsoft acquisition through to the end.