Watch out gamers: Microsoft just purchased Blizzard for $68.7 billion | TechTree.com

Watch out gamers: Microsoft just purchased Blizzard for $68.7 billion

According to Satya Nadella, the acquisition ‘will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,’ but gamers should be wary of the formation of a monopoly.

 

Image Source : microsoft.com

 

Microsoft is acquiring Activision, the publisher of World of Warcraft, Call of Duty and Diablo. 

The deal is worth $68.7 billion, much more than the $26 billion Microsoft paid to acquire LinkedIn in 2016. 

It’s Microsoft’s biggest push into gaming, and once the deal closes, Microsoft says it will be the “third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony”.

Once the deal closes, Microsoft plans to add many Activision games to Xbox Game Pass, like Warcraft, Overwatch, Candy Crush & Call of Duty.

“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.” –Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming

Last year Microsoft gobbled up gaming studio Bethesda (and Elder Scrolls) for $7.5 billion. This year it unhinged its jaws for Activision. Who knows what’s next?

One concern about one company owning so many games is homogenisation. With huge games like The Elder Scrolls and World of Warcraft under Microsoft’s umbrella, gamers would definitely not like it if both games began to resemble each other to the point where it makes no difference whether you play Elder Scrolls or Warcraft.

Another concern is Microsoft making certain games exclusive for Xbox, just recently they announced that the next Elder Scrolls will only be available for Xbox and PC, locking out PlayStation owners. 

Now that Microsoft owns even more games, what if they make more games exclusive for Xbox or PC? PlayStation fans will continue to suffer. But it’s simply good business, because console exclusive games drive up sales for those particular consoles.

“It’s not about punishing any other platform, like I fundamentally believe all of the platforms can continue to grow. But in order to be on Xbox, I want us to be able to bring the full complete package of what we have. And that would be true when I think about Elder Scrolls VI. That would be true when I think about any of our franchises.” – Phil Spencer

The Blizzard acquisition will take 18 months to close, which is quite long for a deal of this magnitude, but regulators will need time to assess the details of the acquisition.


TAGS: Activision Blizzard, Microsoft, Xbox

 
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