Your biggest questions about the Microsoft-Activision deal, answered

digitaltrends.com:

From unionization to exclusivity to the employment status of a CEO, a lot of questions remain following Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of troubled Call of Duty and World of Warcraft maker Activision Blizzard. It’s by far the most significant acquisition we’ve ever seen in the video game space, and analysts agree that the industry will feel the effects of this deal for years to come.

“Undoubtedly, this acquisition strengthens Microsoft’s position in gaming on all fronts globally, including console, mobile, and PC, as well as cloud gaming and subscriptions,” Omdia Principal Analyst George Jijiashvili tells Digital Trends. “It underlines Microsoft’s commitment to gaming, and it will no doubt impact the dynamics of the broader games industry.”

To get a better idea of how exactly this could all play out, I reached out to Jessica Gonzalez, founder and community organizer of the ABetterABK workers’ alliance, as well as analysts, to get an accurate picture of what’s next for the employees at Activision Blizzard, as well as its future games.

The Activision Blizzard acquisition comes after a brutal year in which a July 2021 lawsuit from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing revealed several harassment allegations at the company. Since then, there have been multiple bombshell reports about mismanagement, employee walkouts, and a strike. These issues put Activision Blizzard’s board in a position where it was willing to sell, but it also kick-started developer unionization movements.

In fact, developers at Call of Duty: Warzone dev team Raven Software announced on January 21 that they are forming a union and hope to be voluntarily recognized. So far, Activision Blizzard’s only response has been to tell