News on the evening of October 13th, Beijing time,Microsoft announced today that it has completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard after receiving approval from the UK's antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). This means that after more than 20 months of hard work, Microsoft finally successfully acquired Activision Blizzard.
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Activision Blizzard is the publisher of games such as "Call of Duty," "World of Warcraft" and "Diablo." In January last year, Microsoft announced it would acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.After the transaction is completed, Microsoft will become the third-largest gaming company in the world by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony.
Subsequently, multiple regulatory agencies around the world launched investigations into the transaction. Today, Microsoft finally won the last pass needed for this deal from the British CMA.Phil Spencer, Microsoft's head of Xbox business, said: "We all love games. Not only play games, but also develop games, and can experience firsthand what games mean to individuals, collectives and communities. Today, we officially welcome Activision Blizzard and their team to Xbox."
The deal is the largest acquisition Microsoft has ever made, far exceeding the $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn in 2016 and the $7.5 billion acquisition of game publisher Bethesda in 2021. At the same time, this is also the largest action Microsoft has ever taken in the gaming market. After the transaction is completed, Microsoft will become the third largest gaming company in the world.
Phil Spencer also said today that Microsoft now plans to add many of Activision Blizzard's games to the Xbox GamePass subscription service."Today, we're starting to bring popular Activision, Blizzard, and King games to GamePass and other platforms," he said. "We'll have more to announce in the coming months. We know people are excited, and so are we."
Earlier this week, Activision Blizzard made it clear that Modern Warfare 3 and Diablo IV will not be available on Xbox Game Pass this year. As early as January 2022, Microsoft revealed that the number of Xbox Game Pass subscribers had reached 25 million. But since then, Microsoft has not updated its new subscription numbers.
After acquiring Activision Blizzard, Microsoft's Xbox game studios will add more than nine game studios from Blizzard and more than 11 game studios from King. At the same time, Microsoft will also transform into a publishing giant, and more than 8,500 Activision Blizzard employees will join Microsoft.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotic said: "I have said before that I will do my best to help Microsoft complete the transition. Spencer wants me to continue as Activision Blizzard CEO and report directly to him. We have reached an agreement and I will work until the end of 2023. For the sake of our team and players, we will work together to ensure a smooth transition."