Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard

[vans]

https://news.microsoft.com/2022/01/18/microsoft-to-acquire-activision-blizzard-to-bring-the-joy-and-community-of-gaming-to-everyone-across-every-device/

Wow, now this is really big news for the gaming industry. Microsoft did acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly 70 Billion dollars. Do you think this big move will be positive for Blizzard?

[Ash]

A big move and one that definitely surprised a few people. Slightly nervous about what this means for Activision games on PlayStation in the future especially Call of Duty. I can imagine them becoming exclusives once the current deals expire.

[vans]

12 hours ago, Ash said:

A big move and one that definitely surprised a few people. Slightly nervous about what this means for Activision games on PlayStation in the future especially Call of Duty. I can imagine them becoming exclusives once the current deals expire.

Current games are unlikely to be any exclusive as of now; but for sure expect the new Call of Duties games to be exclusive on Xbox. Or at least any DLC's or whatever.

Think that Microsoft has spent $70 billion dollars and they will for sure make it worth it.

[Empire]

MS was the 4th biggest gaming company in 2021 at $11.6 billion (based on gaming revenue), and Blizzard was fifth at $8.1 billion. Combined, they would be second behind Sony's $25.0 billion. Tencent and Nintendo are both over $10 billion, and there are a number of other multi-billion dollar publishers rounding out the top 10.

Definitely not a monopoly, although generally speaking, the trend toward consolidation of tech/gaming companies is not a particularly good one.