After more than a year of twists and turns in your favorite soap opera “Love, Shenanigans and Redemption,” the long-awaited result has finally arrived. We still had to wait for Xbox to cede its streaming rights for its video games to Ubisoft (which is no loss in itself) and for the UK to finally approve the buyback this Friday. That’s all, Microsoft and its companion Activision Blizzard King have announced the news of the best and worst in gaming through a trailer that makes you dream, right?
Unless you’ve been living in a cave or don’t care about business news in the video game world, you probably know that Xbox boss Phil Spencer made a big splash when he announced the historic acquisition of publisher Activision Blizzard King for nearly 20 years Years announced $69 billion, in January 2022. Subsequently, the various regulators around the world have intensively studied this matter to confirm the said buyback or not. Only Great Britain had shown real resistance to Microsoft. In addition, we must not forget that Jim Ryan, the CEO of Sony’s video game division, did not appreciate the news and also did his best to put obstacles in the way of the proceedings initiated by Phil Spencer. If you want to do a little reading, journalist Cassim Kefti on X wrote a pretty good summary of the case.
For some, this is excellent news, full of hope for profound changes, both in the management of the development teams of the various studios and in new opportunities that will arise thanks to the integration of the newly acquired editor into the games catalog. For others, it’s even the realization of a wet dream: the promise of crossovers of the best video game licenses like Halo and Overwatch! On the other hand, everyone agrees on at least one positive thing: the resignation of our beloved Bobby Kotick from his position as CEO in January 2024 (with a magnificent golden parachute, make no mistake).
One thing is certain: whatever the outcome of this affair, the result would still have been the same: trying to get the most money out of you with minimal effort. So don’t expect a major revolution in this area.