Well, guess we know what Phil Spencer meant when he said they were “evaluating all aspects of [their] relationship with Activision Blizzard and making ongoing proactive adjustments”…
Yeah, you read that right. In other Activision Blizzard news, Microsoft is going to buy Activision Blizzard to add to their Xbox brand. Activision’s own Twitter account confirmed as much early in the morning on January 18th.
According to reports, Microsoft will be paying $68.7 billion for the embattled company. Which means that, in addition to all of Activision’s catalogue, they will also obtain all of their subsidiaries, including: Beenox, Demonware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, Treyarch. In the blog post, Phil Spencer said:
Until this transaction closes, Activision Blizzard and Microsoft Gaming will continue to operate independently. Once the deal is complete, the Activision Blizzard business will report to me as CEO, Microsoft Gaming.
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. We also announced today that Game Pass now has more than 25 million subscribers. As always, we look forward to continuing to add more value and more great games to Game Pass.
The fantastic franchises across Activision Blizzard will also accelerate our plans for Cloud Gaming, allowing more people in more places around the world to participate in the Xbox community using phones, tablets, laptops and other devices you already own. Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward.
Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming
Notably, however, he goes on to address precisely the thing that got Activision Blizzard in hot water in the first place. Ain’t gonna be no Cosby Room ’round there no more.
As a company, Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players. We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.
As for Bobby Kotick, the official line from both companies is that he’ll still be in his position through Microsoft’s 2023 fiscal year, which begins June 30, 2023. Kotick told the New York Times that “will be available as needed” after the closing… which to me means probably not much at all. A Wall Street Journal article, on the other hand, implies that he’s gone after the closing of the deal. Which means that, per his contract, in the case of a corporate takeover he gets a severance package of almost $293 million, according to financial documents. Both accounts could be correct; this deal is going to be under a ton of scrutiny, meaning that the regulatory processes could take until 2023.
Notably, however, Activision Blizzard will report directly to Spencer once the deal goes through. Per their own post, Xbox’s Gaming Leadership Team:
This is, however, a historic moment. It is, in essence, the passing of one of the first third-party video game developers. Back in 1979, a bunch of “high-strung prima donnas” split off from Atari to form Activision, among other companies. Really, it’s both hard and simultaneously easy to see how we got to this point.
Source: The Verge
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