Microsoft has acquired gaming giant Activision Blizzard for $69 billion as part of a move to ramp up its gaming and metaverse plans.
It has been reported that Activision Blizzard is home to a long list of iconic gaming franchises such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, Candy Crush, World of Warcraft, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.
However, after the deal, its games are set to be added to Microsoft Xbox’s Game Pass service, which has 25 million subscribers. According to an announcement from Microsoft, the firm will acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share at a valuation of $68.7 billion.
The report said that the deal is set to close in the 2023 fiscal year will see Microsoft become the third-largest gaming company in terms of revenue behind Riot Games owner Tencent and PlayStation developer Sony.
Likewise, Microsoft outlined that the acquisition will support the growth of its services across mobile, PC, console, and cloud gaming and also notably stated that it will “provide building blocks for the Metaverse.”
Satya Nadella, the CEO and chairman of Microsoft, said:
“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.”
As part of the acquisition, Microsoft stated that Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will remain at the helm until the deal closes, with the reins then being handed over to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. Spencer welcomed the deal via an Xbox blog post and emphasized the company is working to make cloud gaming accessible on as many devices as possible. He didn’t mention the metaverse or nonfungible tokens (NFT), however — sectors that have seen a backlash from some sections of the gaming community.
He wrote:
“The fantastic franchises across Activision Blizzard will also accelerate our plans for Cloud Gaming, allowing more people in more places around the world to participate in the Xbox community using phones, tablets, laptops and other devices you already own.”
Thus, in November, Nadella first unveiled Microsoft’s metaverse plans via an upgrade to its “Teams” service and a product called “Dynamics 365 Connected Spaces.” The “Mesh” upgrade for Teams is set to introduce personalized digital avatars and immersive spaces to meet in the metaverse later this year.
Source: Cointelegraph
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