On Jan 18, Microsoft announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. It's one of the biggest acquisitions in the
technology industry in recent years, which will boost Microsoft's standing in the growing gaming industry. This is a major shakeup for the gaming field. Here MmoGah as a professional in-game currencies transactions platform would like to share the big news with you.
Activision Blizzard is home to mega-franchises, like "World of Warcraft, Diablo, Call of Duty, and Overwatch", while Microsoft Gaming produces Xbox consoles. Microsoft will put Activision Blizzard games in its cloud gaming subscription Game Pass, which can expand its own offerings for the Xbox console and push it into the fast-growing markets for mobile gaming and the metaverse. Now Game Pass has more than 25 million subscribers, while Activision's games own about 400 million monthly active users. This deal will turn Microsoft into the third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. Now it has 30 internal game development studios.
Microsoft plans to add many Activision Blizzard games to Xbox Game Pass and will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as possible within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass. With the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft will soon publish franchises, including new titles, and games from Activision Blizzard's incredible catalog.
The plans of Microsoft mean looking forward to the future, and the much-heralded "metaverse", where players can inhabit shared worlds in virtual reality. Satya Nadella, Microsoft's chair, and chief executive said in a statement:
“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting entertainment category across all platforms. As the digital and physical worlds come together, gaming will play a critical role in the development of metaverse platforms. 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.”
Activision Blizzard's fantastic franchises will accelerate Microsoft's plans for Cloud gaming, allowing more gamers in more places around the world to take part in the Xbox community using phones, tablets, laptops, and other devices. Activision Blizzard games are popular on all kinds of platforms and it is going to support those communities moving forward.
Microsoft expects the Activision Blizzard deal to close in the fiscal year 2023. It is a long period of time to finish, but Activision Blizzard operates in multiple markets, which could make regulatory approval more complicated for Microsoft.
For gamers, it means that Microsoft will control a host of different popular game franchises, including the landmark MMO World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo, and Overwatch. These games will come to Microsoft's Game Pass. Many of them will be newly released in 2023 by Microsoft once the deal closes.
Around the world, there is no more exciting venue for fun and connection than video games. For WoW fans, there has never been a better time to play WoW TBC Phase 3 right now. Have TBC Classic gold on hand to strengthen your weapons to prepare for two big raids of Phase 3.
How Does This Acquisition Affect PC Gaming?
Some people shared their opinions, which are quoted from this article.
Phil Savage, UK Editor-in-Chief said:
“A lot of people are contextualizing this action in terms of Microsoft's perpetual console battle with Sony. But I'm not sure Microsoft is really even thinking about PlayStation at this point.
Microsoft is continuing its transition into gaming's Disney, and its biggest competitor is not Sony, but the other top publicly-traded gaming corporations. Tencent continues to expand and acquire with major stakes in many Western publishers. It outright owns Riot, which sees itself as the new Blizzard. How do you compete with that? Only to buy the old Blizzard.”
Fraser Brown, Online Editor said:
“I'm much more concerned about homogenization. As more of the biggest games on the planet get placed under Microsoft's umbrella, from The Elder Scrolls to World of Warcraft, it gives Microsoft an unprecedented level of influence over our hobby.
And where does this leave PlayStation owners? Microsoft is more than happy to make big multiplatform games Xbox exclusives. We're watching the birth of a monopoly that will ultimately make gaming worse, not just for the Sony diehards left out in the cold, but for all of us.”
Evan Lahti, Global Editor-in-Chief said:
“What happens with Battle.net long-term out of this acquisition? Xbox's current policy is to put its PC games on Steam. Will Battle.net become the exclusive platform for Xbox's PC editions after acquiring Blizzard and Battle.net, becoming a greater competitor to Steam and Epic? Not hard to imagine, Battle.net will become a gateway for PC Game Pass.”
Lastly, we'll be keeping updated with the latest news on the big acquisition, so pay attention to MmoGah news page.