What kind of deal is actually the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and what can Microsoft buy next?

It hasn’t been long since the announcement that everyone will be able to digest what happened, but what really happens is Microsoft will buy Activision Blizzard and, of course, Kinget, part of the group. . Not only because of the potential emotional shock, the heightened emotional state (whether for positive or negative reasons) is understandable, but rather because such a large-scale acquisition has never taken place in the gaming industry before. Moreover, if we put large acquisitions and mergers in the entertainment industry under a magnifying glass, we can find only a handful of examples of times when even more money has changed hands. Microsoft is paying no less than $ 68.7 billion for Activision Blizzard, plus cash. Do not mean that the bundles of dollars will be poured from a flatbed truck into the feet of the current owners, but that the full amount will be transferred and not part or all of the purchase price will be paid in the form of non-Microsoft shares.

Not started today

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is one of the most valuable companies in the world, the third U.S. company to cross the $ 1,000 billion milestone in 2019. Only Apple and Amazon could have anticipated them, they had achieved a similar result a year earlier. Market or stock market capitalization in a nutshell covers the amount that the market is pricing, which is currently $ 2,272 billion. Acquisitions have been part of the company’s growth, if not from the beginning, but for a long time. The first took place in 1987, when software company Forethought, Inc. became part of Microsoft for $ 14 million. Users such as Microsoft PowerPoint can attribute this transaction to an insignificant trifle. Since then, the Redmonds have used this investment / market opportunity more than two hundred times. The value of most of the transactions was not disclosed, which is otherwise perfectly legal, as they were not public limited companies but, for example, were owned exclusively by the founders. By way of comparison, however, here are a few major acquisitions from the past where the purchase price is also known.

• Hotmail (1997) – $ 500 million
• Rare (2002) – $ 375 million
• Skype Technologies (2011) – $ 8.5 billion
• Nokia (2013) – $ 7.2 billion
• Mojang (2014) – $ 2.5 billion
• LinkedIn (2016) – $ 26.2 billion
• GitHub (2018) – $ 7.5 billion
• ZeniMax Media (2020) – $ 8.1 billion

So Microsoft has never paid so much for anything, compared to the cost of engaging Activision Blizzard, the video game’s top leader in the video game industry so far: Take-Two and Zynga 12.7 billion-dollar store . But if we get out of the bubble of video games, we can see that even with the full spectrum of the entertainment industry it is an exceptionally high purchase price . More than just AT&T gave for Time Warner ($ 85.4 billion in 2018) and Disney for 21st Century Fox ($ 71.3 billion in 2019). In comparison, MGM became part of Disney for just $ 8.45 billion, Pixar for $ 7.4 billion, Marvel for $ 4.24 billion and Lucasfilm for $ 4.05 billion.

What has Microsoft gained from this?

In exchange for $ 68.7 billion after the acquisition is completed (expected to take place between July 1, 2022 and June 30, 2023), Microsoft will acquire a number of truly high-value and popular franchises from Call of Duty on Diablo to Warcraft. We’ve put together ten in this article , all we’d love to see in the Game Pass, because like Phil Spencer when welcoming a new member of the Xbox family , so many games from the old Activision Blizzard catalog are being added to the subscription service, currently under development and later from your addresses as much as possible. Of course, something on the Activision PC and Xbox One (including gaming consoles on Xbox Series X | S) will not be included automatically if the rights are held by a third party not affected in any way by the acquisition, however, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was not released by FormSoftware at the time .

About ten thousand people will be employed by Activision Blizzard, which is still operating independently during the transition period, and unless, for some reason, there is a major migration under the supervision of Phil Spencer the corporate culture does not change significantly , then this significant staff can also contribute to the realization of Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella’s woven dreams of the metaverse . With the acquisition, the following studios and divisions will join the growing family of Xbox, which will continue to do so will be only the third in line in terms of revenue after Tencent and Sony.

• Activision Publishing – Publisher of Activision Games
• Beenox – A Canadian studio founded in 2000 that mostly helps other projects along the line as a co-developer. He most recently took part in the work of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2.
• Blizzard Entertainment – An independent entity that also manages the publishing of its games, it has about twice as many developers as Bethesda. He is currently working on Diablo IV and Overwatch 2, while also providing support for World of Warcraft and Hearthstone.
• Demonware – Responsible for keeping the net code of games that are entirely online or with an online component
• High Moon Studios – Developer of Darkwatch and several Transformers games, which in recent years has only been able to play a supporting role alongside the teams leading the development of Call of Duty
• Infinity Ward – The birthplace of the Call of Duty franchise, the Modern Warfare, Ghosts, Infinity Warfare sub-series, and Call of Duty: Warzone head ztője. According to the latest news, it is this studio that will bring us the CoD of 2022, most likely in the form of the resumption of the Modern Warfare reboot of 2019.
• King – A developer specializing in mobile games, known mainly from Candy Crush Saga. His latest creation is Crash Bandicoot: On the Run! about last year.
• Radical Entertainment – A The Simpsons: Hit & Run, and the developers of the Prototype series, who unfortunately haven’t heard of themselves in years.
• Raven Software – Developer of Heretic, Hexen and Soldier of Fortune, which has not received its own project for more than a full decade. So far, it has only been responsible for supporting Call of Duty.
• Sledgehammer Games – CoD team number three behind Infinity Ward and Treyarch. The big breakthrough is yet to come, as none of the Call of Duty subtitles Advanced Warfare, WWII and Vanguard are among the highlights of the series.
• Toys for Bob – The Skylanders series, Spyro Reignited Trilogy and Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, despite all the criticism and financial success of this team the publisher has recently prescribed a supporting role. This is, of course, the Call of Duty.
• Treyarch – A 2008 Since World at War, he has worked exclusively on the Call of Duty franchise. It is a trademark of the Zombies game mode and belongs to the successful Black Ops sub-series.

As mentioned, there are a number of so-called Microsoft is putting its hands on a franchise tailored to the needs of the core player layer, but it has been present in this segment so far. Redmonders may have found the opportunity similarly exciting – if not more exciting – to be able to break into a much more lucrative mobile market than the PC and console market, and last but not least, through King. Microsoft has tried this before, but its attempts have failed, just enough think of the fall of Forza Street . Also not to be overlooked China’s very strong Call of Duty: Mobile because TiMi Studios literally prints the money, but neither does the expansion of the scarce portfolio of family-friendly games (Crash, Spyro) or the ownership of the e-sports organization Major League Games.

Is Bobby Kotick going or staying?

While the majority of players are concerned about the issue of possible exclusivity (later on), business players are more interested in whether Microsoft will leave the CEO of Activision Blizzard in place. In his open letter to employees, the rather unpopular yet highly successful Bobby Kotick made it clear that he would not let go of the reins until the acquisition was completed, but it was doubtful that he would be left behind. A Wall Street Jo urnal sources know an agreement has been reached between the parties on the departure of Kotick

, who could take comfort in nearly $ 300 million. He is followed by Phil Spencer, who has also been appointed CEO of the newly created Microsoft Gaming. This will include Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks / Zenimax Media and Activision Blizzard.

() The same is happening just like in the fall of 2020, when Microsoft announced the catch of the biggest video player ever, acquisition of ZeniMax Media behind Bethesda

. The statements, which could be interpreted in many ways at the time, were vague enough for gamers committed to PlayStation consoles to think that Microsoft would risk at most temporary exclusivity because it was in need of their money. They couldn’t have been bigger either, because the Redmondians had only left them the titles that had appeared until then. And in the future, at most, only new products can be expected that will have to be made available for Sony machines due to a pre-existing contract or a licensing partner . In an interview, Phil Spencer put it this way for gamers spinning Activision Blizzard games on Sony’s platform that they have no intention of withdrawing communities from that platform, and they also persevere. (Interpret everyone the way you want.) The Bloomberg knows the Microsoft will follow a similar strategy to Bethesda’s games, with some playing on PlayStation, while others will only be available on platforms that offer Game Pass (PC, Xbox and cloud).

There are, of course, arguments against Traditionally multiplatform franchises like Call of Duty will become Microsoft-exclusive, but these will be limited to potential revenue loss and player anger. The Phil Spencers aren’t stupid, they’ll probably go through every possible scenario and consider every conceivable consequence and then consider it. So they are also aware that they will fail on every PS that is not sold, but Sony will fail in the same way; on the one hand, it loses the 30 percent commission due to the platform manufacturer, and on the other hand, from the casual layer that buys consoles for multiplatform titles rather than exclusive ones (and they are in the majority), many may migrate to the competition. The 25 million It could be a huge boost for the Subscriber’s Game Pass to no longer be able to coD on PlayStation, except for Warzone and the old parts. But – and this is an even bolder game of thought than ever – Call of Duty and their counterparts may also be capable of forcing Microsoft into a position to force its waistline in and release Game Pass on PlayStations. Remember, Microsoft’s goal is not to sell more consoles than Sony, but to reach hundreds of millions of users, not just hundreds of millions, with the platforms it supports, Game Pass, and cloud technology. You now have a better chance of doing so than ever before.