The Microsoft Activision Blizzard Deal: A Complete Timeline of Events
After one year, eight months, and 26 days, Xbox has finally completed its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, meaning it now owns premium video game franchises including Call of Duty, Overwatch, and Diablo.
Microsoft announced its intention to buy Activision Blizzard on January 18, 2022 but unlike its relatively smooth acquisitions of studios like Starfield and Fallout maker Bethesda, the historic $68.7 billion deal was almost brought to a halt several times.
The deal seemed doomed at times, with the United States' Federal Trade Commission (FTC), European Union, and UK's Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) all bearing down on Xbox and Activision Blizzard. The pair emerged successful, however, as the deal was finally closed on October 13, 2023.
IGN has outlined every challenge faced by Microsoft and Activision Blizzard below, providing a complete history of the deal and how they finally managed to push it through.
The first in a long line of concerns surrounding the Activision Blizzard acquisition arrived on April 1, 2022 as four U.S. senators including Bernie Sanders wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) challenging consolidation in the tech industry.
Sanders alongside Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Sheldon Whitehouse, wrote they were "deeply concerned" about the deal's impact on workers. The senators referenced the wave of sexual harassment and other allegations issued against Activision Blizzard, saying the acquisition could "further disenfranchise these workers and prevent their voices from being heard."
The letter continued: "The FTC should assess whether the ways in which these companies have failed to protect the rights and dignity of their workers are driven by monopsony power or amount to
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