Bobby Kotick interview: Why Activision Blizzard did the deal with Microsoft

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Microsoft and Activision Blizzard announced the biggest deal in gaming history today with Microsoft’s $68.7 billion cash offer to buy the decades-old independent game publisher.

The deal will combine Microsoft’s Xbox and PC gaming business with franchises like Halo, Fallout, and Forza with Activision Blizzard’s franchises like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch. And it should be a big boost for Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass subscription service, which has 25 million subscribers.

Bobby Kotick has been CEO of Activision Blizzard since its inception in the merger of Activision and Blizzard in 2008, and he was also CEO of Activision for decades before that. He engineered the $5.9 billion acquisition of King, maker of Candy Crush Saga, in 2015.

But Activision Blizzard was in a weak position with internal turmoil, thanks to a sexual harassment lawsuit by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleged the company had a culture of sexual bias and tolerance of sexual harassment. The company denied the charges, but, combined with weaker performance for Call of Duty and Overwatch, Activision Blizzard’s stock price fell and made it a ripe takeover target. That prompted the deal of the century for gaming.

The 2nd Annual GamesBeat and Facebook Gaming Summit and GamesBeat: Into the Metaverse 2

January 25 – 27, 2022

I spoke with Kotick about the acquisition and why it made sense to do it.

Here’s an edited transcript of our interview.

Above: Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick

GamesBeat: Why do the