Tuesday, January 18th 2022
Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard to Bring the Joy and Community of Gaming to Everyone, Across Every Device
With three billion people actively playing games today, and fueled by a new generation steeped in the joys of interactive entertainment, gaming is now the largest and fastest-growing form of entertainment. Today, Microsoft Corp. announced plans to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc., a leader in game development and interactive entertainment content publisher. This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft's gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse.
Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion, inclusive of Activision Blizzard's net cash. When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world's third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. The planned acquisition includes iconic franchises from the Activision, Blizzard and King studios like "Warcraft," "Diablo," "Overwatch," "Call of Duty" and "Candy Crush," in addition to global eSports activities through Major League Gaming. The company has studios around the word with nearly 10,000 employees.
Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and he and his team will maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company's culture and accelerate business growth. Once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming.
"Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms," said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. "We're investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all."
"Players everywhere love Activision Blizzard games, and we believe the creative teams have their best work in front of them," said Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming. "Together we will build a future where people can play the games they want, virtually anywhere they want."
"For more than 30 years our incredibly talented teams have created some of the most successful games," said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard. "The combination of Activision Blizzard's world-class talent and extraordinary franchises with Microsoft's technology, distribution, access to talent, ambitious vision and shared commitment to gaming and inclusion will help ensure our continued success in an increasingly competitive industry."
Mobile is the largest segment in gaming, with nearly 95% of all players globally enjoying games on mobile. Through great teams and great technology, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will empower players to enjoy the most-immersive franchises, like "Halo" and "Warcraft," virtually anywhere they want. And with games like "Candy Crush," Activision Blizzard's mobile business represents a significant presence and opportunity for Microsoft in this fast-growing segment.
The acquisition also bolsters Microsoft's Game Pass portfolio with plans to launch Activision Blizzard games into Game Pass, which has reached a new milestone of over 25 million subscribers. With Activision Blizzard's nearly 400 million monthly active players in 190 countries and three billion-dollar franchises, this acquisition will make Game Pass one of the most compelling and diverse lineups of gaming content in the industry. Upon close, Microsoft will have 30 internal game development studios, along with additional publishing and esports production capabilities.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and completion of regulatory review and Activision Blizzard's shareholder approval. The deal is expected to close in fiscal year 2023 and will be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share upon close. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.
Source:
Activision Blizzard
Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard for $95.00 per share, in an all-cash transaction valued at $68.7 billion, inclusive of Activision Blizzard's net cash. When the transaction closes, Microsoft will become the world's third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. The planned acquisition includes iconic franchises from the Activision, Blizzard and King studios like "Warcraft," "Diablo," "Overwatch," "Call of Duty" and "Candy Crush," in addition to global eSports activities through Major League Gaming. The company has studios around the word with nearly 10,000 employees.
"Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms," said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. "We're investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all."
"Players everywhere love Activision Blizzard games, and we believe the creative teams have their best work in front of them," said Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming. "Together we will build a future where people can play the games they want, virtually anywhere they want."
"For more than 30 years our incredibly talented teams have created some of the most successful games," said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard. "The combination of Activision Blizzard's world-class talent and extraordinary franchises with Microsoft's technology, distribution, access to talent, ambitious vision and shared commitment to gaming and inclusion will help ensure our continued success in an increasingly competitive industry."
Mobile is the largest segment in gaming, with nearly 95% of all players globally enjoying games on mobile. Through great teams and great technology, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will empower players to enjoy the most-immersive franchises, like "Halo" and "Warcraft," virtually anywhere they want. And with games like "Candy Crush," Activision Blizzard's mobile business represents a significant presence and opportunity for Microsoft in this fast-growing segment.
The acquisition also bolsters Microsoft's Game Pass portfolio with plans to launch Activision Blizzard games into Game Pass, which has reached a new milestone of over 25 million subscribers. With Activision Blizzard's nearly 400 million monthly active players in 190 countries and three billion-dollar franchises, this acquisition will make Game Pass one of the most compelling and diverse lineups of gaming content in the industry. Upon close, Microsoft will have 30 internal game development studios, along with additional publishing and esports production capabilities.
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and completion of regulatory review and Activision Blizzard's shareholder approval. The deal is expected to close in fiscal year 2023 and will be accretive to non-GAAP earnings per share upon close. The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors of both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.
215 Comments on Microsoft to Acquire Activision Blizzard to Bring the Joy and Community of Gaming to Everyone, Across Every Device
Two of steams best earners last year being independent/small-scale
Valheim(Unity) and Dead by Daylight(Unreal), I believe are all independent/semi-independet/small scale studios.
and 2 Valve games, which are kind of outside that mess.
(source: store.steampowered.com/sale/BestOf2021?tab=1)
GTFO, My current fav (Coop) game is also semi-independent. They did get a sizeable investemnt from Tencent during early access though
Still, it will be interesting to see how this goes. No matter how much they try to accommodate the regulators, I'm sure they will be at least asking some questions to Microsoft.
there is a big chunk of users they risk losing to Linux, M$ can't bully anymore :) I recommend Linux Mint, its great. :rockout:
Though, it seems that in reality Trump basically pushed for Microsoft out of spite for the Washington Post or whatever, which is owned by Bezos, who owns Amazon.?? Don't see what it has to do with this. Antitrust doesn't give a shit about that because, let's face it, Linux has a rounding error presence in the market outside of server deployments.
I'll say it again baby, Linux to the moon!!!! how easily others forget Microsoft and its history with gaming, the first company to introduce DRM for games? Microsoft. hehehe
www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/i-just-switched-to-linux-mint-latest-beta-release-i-am-freaking-in-love-take-care-windows-10-and-11-lmao.283820/
Linux has a minimal presence outside of whatever happens with Steam deck, and even then it can basically emulate the games anyway, so it's literally nonsense to think Linux has anything to do here.
They also tried that with NASA and the moon lander contract and weren't successful.
the once great game with their cool GameMasters (legends until today) belongs in parts to a now transfigured past.
[and sorry i am upset until now]
my last experiences:
(the conversation was automatically translated)
after two days of unanswered mail you may also see where the journey possibly goes. But Data is now the KEY!!!
1200 pages regarding the past 3 years. I am 15 yrs now ingame...
THE CONVERSATION:
[/HR]
hello! greetings!
i would like to contact you today in two ways! please don't take it personally a persona but i will complain to you very much now:
what happened to your customer service in the past when you can't get any ingame support at all?
only formal things concerning the account. is this called outsourcing or puny?
i have been with you permanently for 15 years now and have not been able to address my problem, which i will do in a moment;
i am EXTREMELY and beyond annoyed that their game design allows, dammit, not to grey out or lock a 278 item that exists in catalyst to a trivial other 278 item with no significant improvement...!
it says cooldown 7 days. nothing else. no warning nothing.
is it possible to get my old item back, instead of armreife of the celestial? i want my vault arm splints back.
of course you can. one mouse click for you like before. why is there no help from GM anymore? ingame i couldn't even send the message because you use automated filters that block people if certain keywords fall under your --not help possible-- regulations or you just want to dump them in writing because the staff has been abolished.
i am really disappointed.
can you undo this? please!
i ask out of desperation alone
best regards
..........
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[/HR]
Hello and greetings from the emerald island!
I'm sorry you converted the wrong item in the Creation Catalyst.
We at Customer Service do not exchange items that have been accidentally converted. We also do not refund flux or reset the cooldown of the catalyst.
If you convert an item on a slot that is not part of the tier set (cape, bracers, belt, and boots) the converted item will not count towards the set bonus.
Also, please keep in mind that the item's stats will change.
You can read more about this at www.wowhead.com/guides/creation-catalyst-crafting-tier-sets-shadowlands-patch-92.
But next week will come for sure and then you can convert the right item.
With kind regards,
Game Master ..........
Customer Service
Blizzard Entertainment
eu.blizzard.com/support
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thank you for nothing!
your external website not belonging to the group, you can nail to the (with respect) to the hat!
there is nothing even remotely responsive to my overall problem.
do you think that your answer is satisfactory when i have further earned an answer and draw attention to your meager customer service...?
seriously now? what has become of you?
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They forgot that trust was built over the course of decades and has probably been completely lost over the course of less than a few business decisions.
That's why they asked us if we didn't have a phone. New markets bro! New idiots to fool! New trust to build and betray!
they take a lot but don't give any more.
before you could chat with a GM about whether he prefers to drink Pepsi or Coke... sure that's really unnecessary and shallow.
but you could always turn to them when something went wrong. and that was at a time when this game, WOW, had about 12 million subscribers.
the half in about has remained. actually, it should be no reason to greed here only on maximum profit alone.
its pity.