After intense marches and counter-marches, the planets aligned for Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard. The company behind Xbox was successful in a legal battle against the FTC of the United States to finally finalize the operation. In addition, he made peace with the British regulators to negotiate his future in the United Kingdom.
The purchase does not go unnoticed in the sector. It will undoubtedly be a breaking point in the video game industryas it will allow the American company to increase its presence in the business gamer. So much so that its main competitors —mainly Sony— raised a cry for the excessive force that Microsoft would get in case of sealing the agreement.
When the operation for almost 70,000 million dollars is signed in the contracts, the company that Satya Nadella directs will be the owner of tanks like call of duty, world of warcraft and Candy Crush. What studios, iconic sagas and other games Will Microsoft add with this move?
What games will go into the hands of Microsoft with the purchase of Activision Blizzard?
With this operation (whose first “spasms” were announced in January 2022) the cradle of Xbox will add to its ranks an important variety of games. The following list confirms the presence of iconic franchises and “big shots” in the sector gamer.
- call of duty
- world of warcraft
- Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
- Devil
- Overwatch
- crash bandicoot
- guitar hero
- Tony Hawk’s
- skylanders
- starcraft
- Heroes of the Storm
There is more. Between Activision and Blizzard, who joined in a distant 2007, they own the rights to a wide variety of video games and sagas. We highlight the following names:
- Assault Heroes
- Pitfall!
- Space Quest
- Police Quest
- Hexen
- Interstate ’76
- TimeShift
- Zork
- RPM Racing
- Rock n’ Roll Racing
- The Lost Vikings
To the count must be added Candy Crush Saga de King, a studio that is also involved in this transaction. Although the days of greatest popularity of this game are in the past, its relevance among mobile installments is undeniable. In addition, King (which the conglomerate bought in 2015) contributes also well-known titles, such as Farm Heroes and Pet Rescue.
Activision, Blizzard and King: all the studios that Microsoft will buy
Activision Blizzard brings together more than 12,000 employees globally, according to Statista, which will join the ranks of Microsoft when the purchase-sale operation is signed. With this relevant step, the Xbox division led by Phil Spencer will have under its roof various studios that depend on the company today led by Bobby Kotick.
In the first group, under the umbrella of Activision Publishing, Beenox and Digital Legends stand out; the latter based in Barcelona and dedicated to mobile games. To these are added historical ones such as Infinity Ward, Raven Software, Demonware, Solid State, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, Treyarch and High Moon Studios. Many of these names, of course, carry a very strong link with call of duty.
In addition, Microsoft will absorb the teams of Blizzard Entertainment, which has nine studios in total. One of the standouts at Vicarious Visions, responsible for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. In addition, there are sectors that are dedicated to Devil, starcraft and Heroes of Storm.
Finally, King will contribute 11 studios that will allow Microsoft to fully enter the mobile gaming business. This has been, from the beginning, one of the reasons that has led Redmond to pursue the agreement, according to Phil Spencer. The final details are awaited for the home of Xbox to pay out its 68.7 billion and, with that whopping amount, become a superpower in the gaming business. With this move, proposals will not be lacking.
The next steps in the negotiations
As we pointed out this week in hypertextual, the slap to the FTC of the United States seems to have accommodated the chips in favor of Microsoft, which does not want to waste the progress in the negotiations. The tension is maintained, with a main axis: Will a merger of this kind lead to monopolistic and anti-competitive practices? Also, what will happen to the games that will go to the Xbox environment? Will they continue to be available on other platforms, apart from the preliminary promises?
The impact that Redmond can achieve in the industry with the purchase of Activision Blizzard is evident. An expansion that adds to the one already started with the purchase of Bethesda a few years ago. And the funny thing is that, even so, Microsoft Gaming will remain the third largest video game company in the worldbehind Sony and China’s Tencent.