Microsoft completed its $69 billion acquisition of Blizzard
Originally announced in January 2022, the largest gaming acquisition passed its final major barrier – British permission – earlier in the day after Microsoft agreed to sell streaming rights for Activision’s titles to alleviate competition concerns.
The completion represents a significant victory for the American technology company in its efforts to lure more customers to its Xbox systems and Game Pass subscription service. Microsoft’s gaming income is lower than Sony’s, whose PlayStation systems outsell the Xbox.
“Today is a good day to play,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer wrote on the X social media network, which was previously known as Twitter. He will supervise the Activision company, with CEO Bobby Kotick continuing on until the end of 2023.
Spencer has highlighted the acquisition as a means for Microsoft to enter into the more than $90-billion mobile gaming industry.
Activision publishes popular mobile games such as “Candy Crush Saga” and “Call of Duty Mobile” – games that were omitted from Microsoft’s cloud streaming agreement with France’s Ubisoft Entertainment (UBIP.PA) in order to gain permission from the UK.
“Microsoft has instantly more than $3 billion in mobile revenues,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said.
Leave a Reply