Microsoft finally buy Activision Blizzard as last legal hurdles fall away
Microsoft have finally, finally, finally bought Activision Blizzard after many months of haggling with regulators in several countries. The total figure for the company behind Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Hearthstone, to say nothing of whopping mobile game publisher King and Candy Crush Saga? $68.7 billion, making this the biggest buyout in videogames industry history.
This follows the UK Competition and Markets Authority's provisional approval of the acquisition last month, which the CMA upgraded to non-provisional just this morning, pronouncing themselves satisfied with Microsoft's offer to sell Activision-Blizzard cloud gaming rights to Ubisoft so as to avoid having a monopoly of the cloud gaming market.
In an announcement post, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer trumpeted Activision-Blizzard's games and offered some rosy thoughts for the future.
"As one team, we'll learn, innovate, and continue to deliver on our promise to bring the joy and community of gaming to more people," he wrote. "We'll do this in a culture that strives to empower everyone to do their best work, where all people are welcome, and is centered on our ongoing commitment of Gaming for Everyone.
"We are intentional about inclusion in everything we do at Xbox," Spencer continued. "From our team to the products we make and the stories we tell, to the way our players interact and engage as a wider gaming community."
Spencer touched on the wrangle over cloud gaming, commenting that "as promised, we will also continue to make more games available in more places - and that begins now by enabling cloud streaming providers and players to stream Activision Blizzard games in the European Economic Area, a commitment made to the European
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