Candy Crush

The news that Xbox was going to buy Bethesda caught me by surprise. And not just because of the sheer size of the $7.5bn acquisition.

will launch its version of a mobile gaming store in July. Xbox President Sarah Bond revealed the store will be available on the internet and will not be a specific app like the Google Play Store or Apple App Store, making it available to a wider audience from the start.

President of Xbox Sarah Bond announced during yesterday's Bloomberg Tech talk with Dina Bass that the long-awaited Xbox mobile store will debut this July via Web (to avoid the limitations of the App Store and Play Store while regulators around the world enforce new guidelines). The first games to be added to the store will be Microsoft-owned franchises, like Minecraft and Candy Crush, though the store will be opened to partners shortly afterward.

Microsoft will launch a web-based mobile game store in July, seeking to compete with Apple‘s App Store and the Google Play store.

Honkai: Star Rail players will reportedly attend a series of events in version 2.3 to claim generous rewards. Honkai: Star Rail has recently introduced version 2.2, bringing several events that give Light Cones, Stellar Jades, and upgrade materials as completion rewards. The Gift of Odyssey, which provides players with Special Rail Passes, has now returned to the game with the launch of 2.2.

Baldur’s Gate 3 was the big winner at the 24th annual Game Developers Choice Awards.

Following yesterday's Xbox Business update, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer provided extra details on what gamers can expect in an interview with The Verge.

A sweet grandma gamer shed joy after receiving a Nintendo Switch for her birthday. The lovely old lady was visibly moved to tears after her family gave her the special gift. 

Microsoft recently cut 1,900 jobs from its gaming division and among the layoffs were many at the recently acquired video game developer Activision Blizzard. Blizzard Entertainment's President Mike Ybarra and co-founder Allen Adham are both departing. The tech giant also announced the cancellation of a Blizzard game, called “Odyssey,” that was already six years in development. On Tuesday, Microsoft reported quarterly earnings, posting its strongest revenue growth since 2022.

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.

Videogame giant Activision Blizzard is set to pay around $50 million to settle a lawsuit by a California regulator, a US news report said Friday. In 2021, California's Civil Rights Department sued the company, claiming leaders ignored staff complaints involving sexual harassment and discrimination. The lawsuit had a part in spurring Microsoft's acquisition of the company, noted the Wall Street Journal report.

Mobile gaming revenue is projected to increase by 4% year-over-year to $111.4 billion in 2024, according to a new Data.ai report.

The store could come earlier than later.

Activision Blizzard planned to open its own mobile game store before being acquired by Microsoft, court documents from the Epic Games and Google antitrust jury trial show.

During the 2023 Comic Con Experience (November 30 - December 3) in São Paulo, Brazil, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer spoke with Bloomberg's Rachel Gamarski to confirm the company's strategy to build an Xbox mobile store with the help of like-minded partners.

By Sean Hollister, a senior editor and founding member of The Verge who covers gadgets, games, and toys. He spent 15 years editing the likes of CNET, Gizmodo, and Engadget.

«At first it was like, 'What are you doing?' 'You're the Xbox business and you're not giving us console [sales numbers], that makes no sense.'»

Microsoft has once again reiterated that the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard-King was mostly about securing a foothold in the mobile market.

Xbox users are criticizing Microsoft and Activision for the new full-screen Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 advertisement on the startup screen.

Now that Microsoft has officially acquired Activision Blizzard King, the rumour mills are swirling about what’s next. Much of that talk has centred on Microsoft’s plans for Xbox on mobile, given that King was actually one of the key reasons Microsoft was so keen on the acquisition.

Starfield hit Xbox Series X/S and PC last month, and it became the biggest Bethesda game launch ever, later earning it the top spot on best-selling games in the U.S. last month. Now, thanks to Microsoft's Fiscal Year 2024 Quarter 1 financial results, we know more than 11 million players have played Starfield to date. Starfield's excellent launch resulted in a 13% increase in overall Xbox content and services. However, despite the financial boon on the Xbox services side, overall Xbox hardware was still down 7%. 

Microsoft has released the results for the first quarter of its financial year, showing a strong start for its gaming business thanks to the launch of Starfield and the inherent impact on Xbox Game Pass.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

Microsoft is making an Xbox mobile store with a potential launch for next year. Microsoft already owns massive IPs such as Candy Crush, Elder Scrolls Blades, and COD Mobile, so this comes as unsurprising news considering they already have the foundation for their own mobile platform.

In case you haven’t heard, Microsoft today finally completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard King after 21 months of prep work and grappling with regulatory bodies. The $69 billion deal sees several of gaming’s most lucrative franchises come under the Microsoft/Xbox umbrella, including Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Warcraft, etc. However, this begs the question: Now that the whole rigmarole of acquisition is done, what happens for Activision Blizzard now?

After several months of grappling with federal investigations, Microsoft has closed its deal to acquire Activision Blizzard King. The console manufacturer officially acquired the games company for $69 billion, gaining ownership of several lucrative franchises, including Call of Duty, Warcraft and Candy Crush. This follows the news earlier this morning that authorities had removed the final regulatory roadblock allowing the deal to happen.

By Eddie Makuch on

Microsoft has announced that it has — finally — completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the developer and publisher of Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Candy Crush.

As of around 9am Eastern time, the $68.7 billion sale of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft has officially closed, marking the end of a 21-month struggle with regulators and the largest tech acquisition in history! Alongside this news, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick released a message to employees, celebrating their hard work and the growth of the company he helmed for more than thirty years. Noting successes with the development and publication of iconic games like Pitfall, MechWarrior, Warcraft, StarCraft, Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and more, Kotick shared his commitment to remain with his company as CEO during a transition period through the end of 2023. While the wording suggests he will then depart the company for good, the future is left somewhat uncertain. For the time being, he will report to the head of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer, although Kotick had previously stated his desire to remain working with Microsoft in whatever capacity they would have him.

Microsoft has finally closed their deal to acquire and merge with Activision Blizzard King.

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

Microsoft’s long-running pursuit of Activision Blizzard looks set to come to an end today after the UK finally cleared the deal and stock in the Call of Duty maker was halted.

Freed from his tenure as a US talk show host, Gavin and Stacey star James Corden yesterday teamed up with controversial boss Bobby Kotick to host a townhall meeting for Activision Blizzard employees.

Sign up for the GI Daily here to get the biggest news straight to your inbox

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has inadvertently shared his opinion on the issues modern AAA games are dealing with - revealing he thinks publishers are "milking" their successful IPs and "struggling" to find new ones.