Microsoft Acquires Activion Blizzard for $68.7 Billion

Anastasios Antoniadis

Yesterday, a shocking announcement rocked the gaming world. Microsoft announced that it had acquired Activision Blizzard for $70 billion in a mammoth deal. To be exact, the deal was closed at $68.7 billion, an amount that overshadows the $26 billion Microsoft spent in 2016 for the acquisition of Linkedin.

The development of course means that Microsoft will now be accountable and will have to address some of the worst abuses that have surfaced in the gaming industry.

Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward.

Microsoft

Microsoft Gaming announced the deal on its social media pages, welcoming some of the industry’s biggest studios that produce some of the most famous games in history to the Microsoft Gaming division.

Now, Call of Duty, Warcraft, Candy Crush, Tony Hawk, Diablo, Overwatch, Spyro, Hearthstone, Crash Bandicoot, Guitar Hero, Starcraft, and many others will be available on the Xbox platform and its studios. 

One of the highlights of the announcement, and a logical follow-up (just like with Bethesda’s acquisition from Microsoft), is that all Activision Blizzard games, old and newly released, will be available on Xbox Game Pass once the deal is finalized.

Some of the studios that will soon be part of Microsoft Gaming are:

  • Activision Publishing
  • Blizzard Entertainment
  • Infinity Ward
  • Treyarch
  • Sledgehammer Games
  • Raven Software
  • Beenox
  • Demonware
  • Digital Legends
  • High Moon Studios
  • King
  • Major League Gaming
  • Radical Entertainment
  • Toys for Bob

Microsoft’s biggest acquisitions

Microsoft has made several high-profile acquisitions over the years. Here are some of the top ones in descending order of value:

  • Activision Blizzard: $68.7 billion
  • Linkedin: $26.2 billion
  • Nuance: $19.7 billion
  • Skype: $8.5 billion
  • ZeniMax: $7.5 billion
  • GitHub: $7.5 bilion
  • Nokia phone unit: $7.2 billion
  • aQuantive: $6.3 billion
  • Mojang (Minecraft): $2.5 billion
Anastasios Antoniadis
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