Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard for $68.7 Billion
Originally Posted by Phil Spencer (Official Post)
Creators of Call of Duty, Warcraft, Candy Crush, Tony Hawk, Diablo, Overwatch, Spyro, Hearthstone, Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, StarCraft and more join Team Xbox
As a team, we are on a mission to extend the joy and community of gaming to everyone on the planet. We all know that gaming is the most vibrant and dynamic form of entertainment worldwide and we’ve experienced the power of social connection and friendship that gaming makes possible.
As we pursue that mission, it is incredibly exciting to announce that Microsoft has agreed to acquire Activision Blizzard.
Over many decades, the studios and teams that make up Activision Blizzard have earned vast wellsprings of joy and respect from billions of people all over the world. We are incredibly excited to have the chance to work with the amazing, talented, dedicated people across Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, Demonware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, Treyarch and every team across Activision Blizzard.
Until this transaction closes, Activision Blizzard and Microsoft Gaming will continue to operate independently. Once the deal is complete, the Activision Blizzard business will report to me as CEO, Microsoft Gaming.
Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog. We also announced today that Game Pass now has more than 25 million subscribers. As always, we look forward to continuing to add more value and more great games to Game Pass.
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. Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward.
As a company, Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players. We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.
Around the world, there is no more exciting venue for fun and connection than video games. And there has never been a better time to play than right now. As we extend the joy and community of gaming to everyone, we look forward to welcoming all of our friends at Activision Blizzard to Microsoft Gaming.
THIS IS INSANE
New leadership and Xbox leadership at that can only mean good things. Plus D4 and Cod on gamepass? lol sign me up
Imagine if PC Game Pass gave you a WoW Subscription as well...
now it's clear why they don't develop for mac anymore...
"He/Him", "She/Her" like it says in the pic.... /sigh
My god can you imagine lol.
Leadership team is mostly women, ticked the boxes for other racial profiles. Wonder if they also tick the boxes for sexual identity and if any are disabled?. If so then it is almost perfect, shame that meeting diversity targets and appeasing snowflakes is a bigger priority than producing decent games.
Society and technology moved so fast this last century due to the best person getting the best jobs. Now it is, we would love to employ you but we need someone to fulfil our diversity requirement. There has been a slowdown in technological advancement, I believe it will only get worse as people are picked to meet targets. I feel more and more disassociated with society, i watch TV adverts and can now notice how they try and fit as many stereotypes as they can into it, again box ticking.
/grumpy bastard