Gaming News With the full acquisition of Activision-Blizzard, Microsoft Xbox is undergoing a major transformation in France!
Published on 06/24/2023 at 16:03
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Microsoft has just announced a big change for Xbox France in its tough battle with the FTC to acquire Activision-Blizzard.
The soap opera continues
It’s now getting difficult to count all the twists and turns of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. The Redmond-based company wants to acquire the studio at any price, but the various economic authorities around the world are making it difficult for it. The Federal Trade Commission, the regulator of the American market, recently decided to suspend the transaction. With good reason: Microsoft would have tried to force the takeover, while the British regulator CMA had rejected the takeover.
For its part, Microsoft has therefore embarked on a difficult showdown against the FTC and is trying everything for everything. As a reminder, if the transaction fails, the Redmond-based company will have to pay Activision-Blizzard $3 billion in compensation. While Microsoft awaits the outcome of this soap opera, it announces a change for Xbox France.
Xbox France is changing direction
The announcement was made in an official statement on the website yesterday XboxWire. Ina Gelbert, head of Xbox France since September 2019, is preparing to leave her post after 12 years at Microsoft to “embark on an entrepreneurial adventure outside of the video game industry”. She will be replaced by Cédric Mimouni, Gaming Category Lead Western Europe since 2021, who joined Xbox in August 2013.
First of all, I would like to thank Ina for the quality of her work on the Xbox brand and the effort to make it shine in France in many ways. Ina is my friend and we will miss her. It is with honor and humility that I continue my journey at Xbox, where I have spent the last ten years of my professional life in different roles and in different countries. I will put all my energies into continuing to make Xbox a great place for everyone in France. – Cedric Mimouni.
Ina Gelbert thanked her entire team and said she was ready “to implement a project that she had been thinking about for a long time.”
After four exciting years at the helm of Xbox in France, it’s time for me to take a career turn and pursue a project I’ve been thinking about for a long time. The last four years have been downright incredible and I can’t imagine how lucky I have been to be able to work on so many exciting projects, with such a great team, in an ecosystem full of creativity and innovation, most importantly promising and connecting. As a woman in the video game industry, I was passionate about promoting diversity and giving more visibility to talented women contributing to the industry, while also encouraging younger people to join us. I am convinced that diversity, and not just gender diversity, is a key driver of innovation and team success, and I hope that the various initiatives of Xbox in France have made it possible to highlight this issue in our beautiful sector (. ..).- Ina Gelbert
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