Here's everything that's happened since Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard
Last week was a big one for the videogame industry. In a deal that dwarfed all others before it (in the game business, anyway), Microsoft surprised the world with the announcement that it will acquire Activision Blizzard for a whopping $68.7 billion. The news came exactly two months after Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer described the sexual harassment and discrimination scandal at Activision Blizzard as «horrific,» and said Microsoft was "evaluating all aspects" of its relationship with the company.
The scale of the buyout is staggering: When completed, it will give Microsoft control of some of the biggest game series in the world, including Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Overwatch, and a massive backlog of older games. In conjunction with Microsoft's purchase of Bethesda Softworks just over a year ago—a blockbuster deal in its own right, even though it was only for a small fraction of the Activision Blizzard price tag—it will make Microsoft the third-largest game company in the world by revenue.
It's not a done deal, and Activision Blizzard comes with a lot of baggage that could complicate the regulatory approval process. But if it does go through—and the general consensus is that it will—then it could shake up the videogame industry in ways unlike we've ever seen before.
It was a heavy flurry of news stories over just a few days, so here's a look at what we know about the deal so far, its implications, and how the industry is reacting:
A filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission answered some basic questions about the impact of the buyout: That it «remains business as usual» with both companies operating independently until the deal is done, and that immediately layoffs aren't anticipated. As for Kotick's
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