Microsoft Offered To Acquire Activision Blizzard Three Days After Bobby Kotick Abuse Allegations Went Public, According To Report

thegamer.com:

Back before the Activision Blizzard and Microsoft merger was made public, Phil Spencer famously commented that his company would be "evaluating" its relationship with the Call of Duty publisher. Of course, everyone interpreted this as a bad omen for Activision Blizzard, with the implication being that they could expect fewer dealings with Microsoft in the future. Of course, we now know that it will be the exact opposite.

But as much as we joke about it now, it looks like Microsoft really did "evaluate" its relationship with the company that quickly. According to a report from The Verge, Microsoft reached out to Activision Blizzard about a possible acquisition just three days after CEO Bobby Kotick was implicated in his company's abuse allegations.

Related: Bobby Kotick Should Have Been Forced Out Of The Gaming Industry Years Ago

According to the report, Spencer and Kotick first spoke about the deal November 19, 2021. This would be days after the allegations about Kotick were made public, as well as the resurfacing of an incident in which Kotick threatened to "end" a woman over the phone. This would also be just a day after Spencer told his own employees that he was "deeply troubled" over the allegations.

It appears that it was Spencer who played the active role in seeking acquisition negotiations, telling Kotick he would like to discuss "strategic opportunities" between the two companies the very next day. Following this, discussions continued for two months before the news was announced to the public.

While we can only speculate as to what this timeframe means in terms of Spencer's personal views on how to handle the abuse allegations, publicly at least, he has condemned similar behaviour. Before the merger was