Microsoft buys Activision-Blizzard for $68.7 billion

Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard for 687 billion

We thought we had reached a certain glass ceiling with the recent acquisition of Zynga by Take Two Interactive for 12.7 billion dollars, but it seems that the delusions of grandeur have passed again at Microsoft which has just announced the acquisition of Activision -Blizzard for the astronomical sum of $68.7 billion. This is unheard of, especially since Microsoft had already released the checkbook in 2020 to buy Bethesda Softworks for 7.5 billion dollars. That’s what we have an unlimited wallet and what we have the means to achieve our ambitions. For such a sum, Microsoft offers itself some of the juiciest licenses on the market, starting with Call of Duty, by far the company’s goose, followed closely by World of Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch , Candy Crush, Starcraft, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, Crash Bandicoot, Guitar Hero and many more franchises. A valuation that seems meaningless as the price is staggering, but in this way, Microsoft ensures a richness and diversity in the games that will be offered in the Xbox Game Pass.

Because therein lies the sinews of war, that of today and tomorrow, to have the best catalog for mass consumption and video game streaming, which will take the same path as that of SVOD platforms. in the cinema. Sooner or later, Sony and Nintendo will have to get started, as Phil Spencer said in a recent interview, and it will take the right weapons to survive. Because even though Microsoft recovers the rights to all these licenses, nothing tells us that they will disappear from other competing consoles, and it is not prohibited for the American giant to adopt the same strategy with Bethesda games, keeping the right of exclusivity according to games and licenses.

In the meantime, this monstrous takeover will take a few months to be finalized, between July 2022 and June 2023, leaving Activision-Blizzard to act completely independently before Microsoft starts cleaning up. We know for example that Bobby Kotick will still remain at the head of the company, he who is targeted for complaints of sexual harassment and abuse. But once the takeover is final, it’s Phil Spencer, the big boss of Xbox studios, who will take the reins of Activision Blizzard’s activision. But when we know that Microsoft had looked into the subject, we can imagine that it will be an opportunity to set up a more serene and more inclusive atmosphere within the company which has been under fire from departures and polemics. Anyway, such an announcement obviously acts as an earthquake in the world of video games, but also in the entertainment market in general.

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