Skip to main content

Microsoft finally closes its $69B Activision Blizzard acquisition

Xbox acquired Activision Blizzard on January 18, 2022, and gained the rights to Call of Duty, Candy Crush, and more.
Microsoft

It’s done: Microsoft completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The $69 billion deal means that some of gaming’s biggest franchises, including Call of Duty, are now Xbox properties.

First announced in January 2022, the blockbuster deal has faced tons of scrutiny from regulators like the CMA and FTC, with there being worry that it’d be unfair to competition in various parts of the game industry. Ultimately, Microsoft proved that wasn’t the case, defeating the FTC in court and finally getting the CMA to retract its objection to the deal earlier today. When the CMA did that, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson told Digital Trends “The CMA’s official approval is great news for our future with Microsoft, and we look forward to becoming part of the Xbox Team.”

After stock market trading closed for Activision Blizzard yesterday, it was suspected that the deal closing was imminent. Microsoft confirmed this Friday morning. A video celebrating the deal was posted on Xbox’s YouTube channel, while an Xbox Wire post went into a bit more detail about what’s next from both Xbox and Activision Blizzard.

Activision Blizzard King Joins Xbox - Official Trailer

In it, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer explains, “As one team, we’ll learn, innovate, and continue to deliver on our promise to bring the joy and community of gaming to more people. While Activision Blizzard had dealt with rampant workplace harassment in the past, Spencer says he wants to establish “a culture that strives to empower everyone to do their best work, where all people are welcome, and is centered on our ongoing commitment of Gaming for Everyone.” When it comes to the games, Spencer confirms that Activision Blizzard’s titles will continue to be available in a variety of places and that they’ll start bringing the publisher’s titles to Game Pass in “the coming months.”

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will remain in his position through the end of 2023, reporting to Phil Spencer. It’s unclear if he’ll continue to work with the company after that.

The first Activision Blizzard game that will launch under Microsoft is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, which comes to PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on November 10.

Editors' Recommendations

Tomas Franzese
Gaming Staff Writer
Tomas Franzese is a Staff Writer at Digital Trends, where he reports on and reviews the latest releases and exciting…
Vondel is the best Call of Duty: Warzone map ever and it’s not even close
Characters on the Vondel map in Warzone.

Since Call of Duty: Warzone's release in 2020, Activision has released a number of battle royale maps -- some of which have captivated a large audience. Think Verdansk, Rebirth Island, and Fortune's Keep. Though, with the new version of Warzone (formerly referred to as Warzone 2.0), the maps haven't garnered the same positive buzz ... until now.

Alongside the release of Season 4, Activision released the new Vondel map, which takes place in an urban Netherlands city, full of various buildings, a canal, and even a public transit system (via ground or water). Vondel isn't just great, it's the best Warzone map ever made.
What is Vondel?

Read more
FTC v. Microsoft: 5 surprising revelations from the court hearing that you need to know
Call of Duty Warzone screenshot of 3 characters walking towards the camera.

We have reached an inflection point in Microsoft’s efforts to acquire Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher Activision Blizzard as the FTC’s lawsuit to stop it went before a judge. Representatives from Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo, Google, and Nvidia chimed in during the hearing, as did a variety of analysts presenting data to help determine whether or not this acquisition will hurt competition in the console and cloud gaming markets.
As the video game industry is quite buttoned-up and secretive, this trial has given us an unprecedented look behind the curtain at Xbox, PlayStation, and Activision’s motivations, past claims and mistakes they made, and more. In a case filled with revelations, these five details were a particularly illuminating look into the video game industry's inner workings.
Microsoft revealed its real cloud gaming motivation

Since 2019, Microsoft has been one of the video game industry’s biggest purveyors of cloud gaming alongside the likes of Nvidia, Amazon, and Google. It previously claimed that its primary goal with this was to get its hardcore games like Halo in front of as many people as possible, but this trial has revealed a secondary motivation. Microsoft hoped cloud gaming would give them an edge in the mobile gaming market, where Xbox has struggled to establish itself.
“We built xCloud knowing that on Xbox we have many games that run on our console,” Head of Xbox Phil Spencer explained. “There are many users around the world that have phones that aren’t able to play those games, nor will they be. Our strategy was to put consoles in our data centers to stream those consoles to a mobile phone, so if someone wanted to play Halo on a mobile phone, they would have access to those games through streaming.
It didn’t work out that way, though. Xbox’s VP of Game Creator Experience, Sarah Bond, testified that the most common use for cloud gaming is not mobile play but console players trying out a game before or during a download. Because cloud gaming is a sticking point for the CMA, Microsoft wants to downplay its relevancy to Xbox’s business, but, as I wrote in April, it might be too late for them to do that. Even if cloud gaming’s future is as a supplementary service on consoles, it’s sticking around as one of the central aspects of dissent against the acquisition. The future of cloud gaming is just playing out in a way no one predicted when it re-rose to prominence four years ago.
Activision regrets not putting Call of Duty on Nintendo Switch

Read more
Microsoft’s $69B Activision Blizzard deal temporarily blocked in U.S.
Character with ISO Hemlock in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

This article has been updated to reflect the judge's decision on Tuesday, June 13.

A U.S. judge has granted a request by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to put a temporary block on Microsoft proceeding with its $69 billion bid to acquire Activision Blizzard.

Read more