Microsoft finally officially owns Activision Blizzard
The biggest acquisition in gaming history and one of the biggest acquisitions in the tech sector has been made. Twenty-one months after the deal was announced, Microsoft officially bought Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, the largest acquisition in the company's history. News Reuters.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has announced that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick will step down by the end of this year. After that he can leave the company.
The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) initially blocked the deal in April. The software giant has had to battle with regulators over what impact the merger will have on the cloud gaming sector. In the end, Microsoft won.
However, to win this battle, the UK regulatory body has to accept the conditions. Microsoft has agreed to sell all Activision Blizzard titles to Ubisoft. As a result, Activision Blizzard games will be available not only on Xbox Game Pass, but also on Ubisoft Plus. The games will even be available on platforms that Ubisoft is interested in working with.
Microsoft has already signed 10-year deals with Nintendo and several cloud gaming companies to make Activision titles available on their platforms. These steps helped the European Union give the green signal for integration.
