The deal wasn’t immediate, and Xbox didn’t provide a timeline for when the acquisition would be completed, but the news makes Xbox’s last major acquisition, ZeniMax Media’s acquisition in 2020, now a meager one. It was easily surpassed by an amount believed to be $7.5 billion.
April 1, 2022 – US Senators raise concerns over Activision Blizzard acquisition A few months after the acquisition was announced, four US senators, including Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Sheldon Whitehouse, wrote to the Federal Trade Commission.this a letter outlining your concerns This transaction may disenfranchise current Activision Blizzard employees following allegations of sexual misconduct and other hostile workplace practices.
24 August 2022 – Xbox launches website outlining benefits of acquisition To explain to the general public the benefits of Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft launched a website
According to Xbox, the acquisition means more games can be played on more devices, more options for how to buy games, and more diversity for mobile gamers. Xbox also claims that developers will have easier access to customers, fairer markets and more flexible payment systems.
Activision Blizzard deal compared to other major acquisitions
September 1, 2022 – Call of Duty continues to release on PlayStation the same day, with Game Pass Spencer emphasized what he wanted to say
In a separate blog post, Spencer notes that PlayStation gamers will likely receive the new Call of Duty on the same launch day as other platforms, including Xbox Game Pass, where first-party Xbox games are released daily as retailers. confirmed.
Sept. 7, 2022 – PlayStation’s Jim Ryan says Xbox’s Call of Duty promise “falls short in many ways.” In the first of a series of reactions, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan said the promise to bring Call of Duty to PlayStation after the acquisition was “inappropriate.”
and Statement to Gamesindustry.biz
12 October 2022 – Xbox says PlayStation is too big to crush, following concerns raised by UK competition and market authorities The UK’s Competitive Markets Authority (CMA) has raised concerns about Xbox’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In response, Xbox said the concern was unsupported, arguing that PlayStation was too big to fail.
“The suggestion that a current market leader with clear and enduring market power could lose access to one title and thus be seized by the third largest provider is discredited.” Xbox said in a statement
October 31, 2022 – Phil Spencer: Call of Duty will continue to ship on PlayStation ‘as long as there’s a PlayStation to ship to’ In an ongoing effort to keep Call of Duty multi-platform, Phil Spencer said the intention was not to keep Call of Duty away from PlayStation gamers, but that as long as there are PlayStations to ship to, Xbox will keep Call of Duty at bay. It said it would ship Duty to Sony’s consoles.
speak above Same Brain YouTube Channel
13 Biggest Franchises Owned By Microsoft After Xbox Deal With Activision
11 November 2022 – Xbox offers PlayStation a 10-year deal to keep Call of Duty on the platform it was The New York Times reported
The deal also reflects a similar arrangement with Nintendo, which we’ll discuss in more detail later.
December 8, 2022 – Federal Trade Commission Files Lawsuit to Block Xbox’s Acquisition of Activision Blizzard In its biggest accusation yet, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has filed a lawsuit to block Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
in a press release
In an internal memo, Activision Blizzard’s current CEO Bobby Kotick told employees that while the lawsuit “sounds alarming,” the deal is expected to proceed as planned. .
Dec 12, 2022 – Phil Spencer says Sony wants to grow ‘by making the Xbox smaller’ In a slightly different tone, Spencer refuted PlayStation’s attempt to block the Activision Blizzard acquisition, stating that PlayStation “want to preserve their dominance” by “making the Xbox smaller.”
Spencer appears Second request podcast
Spencer had previously spent months discussing how Call of Duty would remain on PlayStation, with Jim Ryan calling these overtures “inappropriate.” Spencer signaled a change of tone by striking back at PlayStation’s dominance as the battle over the acquisition heats up.
All IGN Call of Duty Reviews
5 January 2023 – UK CMA extends investigation into Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard Due to the complexity of the case, the CMA has announced that it will extend its investigation into the acquisition for up to eight weeks to process the amount of evidence it has collected. In addition, the CMA should also review the reaction it has received from the public after soliciting input on the acquisition.
The extension means that the final filing date for the CMA’s report on whether Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is negative for the industry will be April 26th instead of the original March 1st deadline. that date.
30 January 2023 – Success of The Last of Us on HBO proves Sony’s opposition to merger unfounded Although not an official statement, Activision Blizzard CCO Tweeted by Lulu Cheng Meservey
“Sony has unparalleled IP not only in games, but also in television, film and music, which we can develop into games or sell existing games. said Meservey. “No wonder they continue to dominate as the market leader in consoles. In gaming, Sony is ‘our first company’ and is fine without FTC protection.” “
Meservey cited the record-breaking viewership of HBO’s The Last of Us as an example of Sony’s extensive network produced by PlayStation Productions and Sony Pictures Television.
February 3, 2023 – European Union issues antitrust warning to Microsoft According to Politico
“We are listening carefully to the European Commission’s concerns and are confident we can address them,” Microsoft said in a statement.
With the EU, UK and US seemingly critical of the acquisition, scrutiny from the world’s top market regulators will only intensify as the deal tries to find a way forward.
Feb 8, 2023 – Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard could hurt gamers, says CMA The UK’s CMA has issued a preliminary report of its investigation raising some concerns about Xbox’s plans to acquire Activision Blizzard. This includes the risks of higher prices for games, less choice and less innovation for UK gamers.
One area of particular concern is cloud gaming. According to the CMA, Microsoft controls 60% to 70% of cloud gaming services today, and making Call of Duty exclusive could “change the future of gaming.”
The CMA also said that dedicating games to the Xbox “could significantly reduce competition between Xbox and PlayStation in the UK,” and that “all gamers will appreciate the higher prices of gaming consoles over time.” “They may become smaller, have less range, lower quality, and lower service.”[.]”
Feb 21, 2023 – Xbox signs 10-year deal to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo and Nvidia Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, said the company signed a binding 10-year contract Bringing Call of Duty games to Nintendo device owners “same day as Xbox, with full functionality and content parity.” The deal is meant to highlight that the Xbox acquisition will not silo Call of Duty into the Xbox ecosystem, which is better than bringing Call of Duty to a platform that the series has actively ignored in the past. Is there a way?
Especially given Nintendo’s hardware, Nintendo’s promise to deliver Call of Duty games with full content parity to Nintendo gamers feels particularly ambitious. performance issues .
On the same day, Microsoft announced a 10-year deal to bring all PC games, including Activision Blizzard titles, to Nvidia’s GeForce Now streaming service. This is a direct response to the UK CMA’s concerns about cloud gaming, as Nvidia is the main competitor for the service.
With the deal, Nvidia dropped its acquisition concerns and stopped at least one major tech company from opposing the deal.
Best Xbox Game Pass games
With months to go until the final report of the UK CMA and many hurdles still to come, there could be many more episodes before Microsoft’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard comes to a conclusion.
Matt TM Kim is IGN’s Senior Feature Editor.you can contact him @lawoftd .
