Company acquisitions happen all the time, but sudden announcements can be shocking for the market and the consumers. This is why Microsoft’s recent sudden update on officially acquiring Activision Blizzard for a whopping $68.7 billion made waves in the community.
But this goes beyond just finances and stocks, as the move will now give Xbox ownership of some of the biggest money-making titles, including the Call of Duty franchise. So if this acquisition is approved, it could be the largest one in gaming history to date.
With this acquisition, Microsoft’s goal is to “accelerate the growth” of their gaming business across all the platforms and “provide building blocks for the metaverse.”
The company went on to list specific franchises it will own if the acquisition goes through, aside from Call of Duty, including Candy Crush, Diablo, Overwatch, and Warcraft (as well as the MMO World of Warcraft), and more. The classic Activision franchises will also be under Xbox like Crash Bandicoot, Guitar Hero, and Spyro the Dragon.
Last year, Microsoft acquired Bethesda, one of the main reasons for this being to bolster the Xbox Game Pass, and the same can be said for the Activision Blizzard acquisition. Microsoft has stated they have plans on launching Activision Blizzard games as day one Xbox Game Pass titles. This would mean that the future Call of Duty games, Diablo 4 and Overwatch 2, will be available on Game Pass on day one if the deal is finalized before the games are released.
Microsoft also has plans to add previously-released Call of Duty games to the Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass. No specific titles have been mentioned, but this would include almost every game published by Activision Blizzard that is available to play on Xbox One and Xbox Series X consoles.
Everyone’s question is now what will happen to the Call of Duty franchise on other platforms. It would be a big move if Xbox makes all future CoD titles Xbox exclusives, but that would also mean giving up on a lot of revenue. Bethesda games will be Xbox exclusive, though, so this could be the fate of Activision Blizzard’s future titles as well.
About Microsoft
Founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen in 1975, Microsoft is an American MNC that creates, licenses, supports and sells computers, software, electronics, video games, and corresponding services.
Some of the most popular titles in the world, like Age of Empires, Forza, Gears of War, Halo, Minecraft, Microsoft Solitaire, Microsoft Flight Simulator, and State of Decay, have been developed and published by Microsoft.
Microsoft is also known for establishing the famous console brand Xbox, along with the video game subscription Xbox Game Pass.
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