Microsoft has announced that it has made an offer of $68.7 billion dollars to purchase Activision Blizzard pending regulatory approval.
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In a surprise move Tuesday morning, Microsoft announced that it was intending to purchase the beleaguered gaming. Activision Blizzard is responsible for titles such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo, and more. This new deal would allow Microsoft to gain an even stronger foothold in the gaming industry across console, mobile, and PC gaming.
Activision Blizzard has been attempting to recover from a scandal of a “pervasive frat boy workplace culture” that has been allowed to persist for years. Numerous female employees have come forward alleging that they have been continuously sexually harassed and received lower compensation than their male counterparts. The company has gone on to fire more than three dozen employees for misconduct since July 2021.
“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said in announcing the Activision Blizzard pact. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”
“Players everywhere love Activision Blizzard games, and we believe the creative teams have their best work in front of them,” Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, said in a statement. “Together we will build a future where people can play the games they want, virtually anywhere they want.”
Microsoft pledged in its announcement that it will offer as many titles as possible through its Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass programs.
The deal is sure to come under heavy review by the Federal Trade Commission due to the number of other gaming studios Microsoft has already purchased, as well as the reach it would now give Microsoft.
