Microsoft's Potential Acquisition of Activision Blizzard: What This Means for Gamers

tech.hindustantimes.com:

The sun finally came out for Microsoft. On 11 July, Judge Jacqueline Corley ruled in favor of the Redmond, Washington-based company in its dispute against the United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the purchase of Activision Blizzard, one of the world's largest video game developers. An appeal by the FTC to temporarily halt the deal was denied by an appellate court late last week.

With these decisions, the tech giant is now one step closer to closing the $69 billion acquisition deal, which was first announced back in January 2022.

The court's decision removes the hurdle of the FTC, however, across the pond, Microsoft still faces pushback from regulators in the United Kingdom who argue that the deal could stifle competition in the cloud gaming market. And Microsoft is reportedly in talks to extend the deal deadline, which expires today, 18 July, to ensure that no one else scoops up Activision Blizzard while negotiations are ironed out.

But with all this legal back and forth, it can be easy to forget a segment of the population that will be most impacted by a potential acquisition of Activision Blizzard: the gamers.

Here's a look at what video game players can expect from a potential buyout.

In theory, the biggest beneficiaries of Microsoft's purchase of Activision are gamers with Xbox consoles. Xbox Game Pass subscribers will likely be able to enjoy the entire catalog of video games that Activision Blizzard has created, a move similar to what Microsoft did when it acquired the rights to video game publisher Bethesda in 2020.

On the other hand, those without an Xbox, such as fans of Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, as well as smartphone gamers, could also feel the negative impact of a potential deal. For example,