Picture: Microsoft
The article can only be viewed with JavaScript enabled. Please enable JavaScript in your browser and reload the page.
With the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is strengthening its own games portfolio – also for a possible future Metaverse.
Microsoft plans to acquire Activision Blizzard at an acquisition price of $95 per share. The total value of the transaction is therefore approximately $68.7 billion.
According to the press release, the group wants to use this acquisition to “accelerate the growth of Microsoft’s games business in mobile, PC, console and cloud and provide building blocks for the Metaverse”.
Microsoft is preparing for games and the future of Metaverse
Activision and Blizzard studios are known for games like Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. The gaming conglomerate employs approximately 10,000 people worldwide. According to its own statements, the takeover makes Microsoft the world’s third-largest game maker after Tencent and Sony in terms of sales.
Microsoft boss Satya Nadella sees the takeover as a strategic double whammy: “Gaming is and will be the fastest growing and most exciting entertainment category across all platforms. Key role in the development of Metaverse platforms play,” Nadella says of the takeover and promises “a new era of gaming.”
Nadella was already talking about future “gaming metaverses” in November 2021, in which virtual reality and augmented reality play a role. “If you think of Halo as a game, it’s a metaverse. Minecraft is a metaverse, just like Flight Simulator,” Nadella said. “In a way, they are [die zuvor erwähnten Spiele] 2D today, and the question is can you translate that into a fully 3D world now, and we certainly intend to do that.
Along with the Activision Blizzard gaming brands, Microsoft is now bolstering its own portfolio with some of the best-known titles on the market – and their millions of fans.
Bobby Kotick remains CEO of Activision Blizzard
Former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will remain in his role and further develop Activision Blizzard. After the transaction closes, Kotick will report to Microsoft games boss Phil Spencer. Kotick has been criticized, among other things, for ignoring known incidents of sexual assault or preventing them from becoming public.
“Gamers everywhere love Activision Blizzard games, and we believe the creative teams have their best work ahead of them,” said Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming. “Together, we will build a future where people can play the games they want, virtually anywhere they want.”
Learn more about Microsoft:
Note: Links to online stores in articles may be so-called affiliate links. If you buy through this link, MIXED.de will receive a commission from the seller. The price does not change for you.