Microsoft Will Acquire Activision-Blizzard For Nearly $70 Billion

Earlier today, Microsoft Gaming has announced the biggest acquirement in the gaming industry’s history. The company behind Xbox is planning to purchase Activision-Blizzard for what is estimated at $68.7 billion. To show you the scale of this news – in 2020, Microsoft has acquired Zenimax (Bethesda’s parent company) with IPs such as The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Wolfenstein, and more for $7.5 billion.

This means that Microsoft owns all of the Blizzard studios and franchises such as Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, Overwatch, Candy Crush and, of course, Hearthstone. When it comes to our favorite card game, the acquisition most likely won’t have much of an impact. Maybe (hopefully) it means that Team 5 will get some more resources – let’s cross our fingers. For their new releases, it might mean some exclusivity for PC/Xbox environment and games such as Diablo IV or Overwatch 2 being available Day 1 on Game Pass.

Overall, I think that the move might be positive for the company, as Microsoft might “clean up” the mess left by the management and improve working conditions. After all, Phil Spencer (head of the Xbox brand) publicly condemned Bobby Kotick’s actions (or rather inactions). Until the deal is complete, Activision-Blizzard will operate independently, so Kotick will remain in the CEO seat. We don’t know exactly what will happen after the deal is finished, the only official information is that the company will report to Phil Spencer, who becomes the CEO of Microsoft Gaming. Hopefully, it means that Kotick will finally retire.

All of that said, we will probably have to wait a while before we see what the acquisition might mean in long term. Still, I’m positive that any changes will be for the better.

Stonekeep

A Hearthstone player and writer from Poland, Stonekeep has been in a love-hate relationship with Hearthstone since Closed Beta. Over that time, he has achieved many high Legend climbs and infinite Arena runs. He's the current admin of Hearthstone Top Decks.

Check out Stonekeep on Twitter!

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11 Comments

  1. PitLord
    January 19, 2022 at 1:48 AM

    I Hope that microsoft speed up the “new” (both activision always milk the same IP) games of blizzard (they have always been famous for their slowness) like Diablo IV without the infamous error 37 at launch, thanks.

  2. H0lysatan
    January 18, 2022 at 5:40 PM

    I knew all along that *ssh*le Bobby wasn’t gonna leave without getting something for his pocket.
    He’s like, “You want me to resign, fine. Give me $50bn and I will leave”.
    I just hope he won’t make things at a worse state when he finally leave.

    A “tumor” that has spread to the whole body is not so easy to cure afterall.

  3. Lake
    January 18, 2022 at 1:04 PM

    please someone tell microsoft to make all the cards available for free. blizzard won`t do it. or at least let us have full collection with less packs(100 for example).300 packs that result in useless dust after getting cards. increase disenchant value and don`t make pack value drop to zero after a legendary.wtf blizz its simple economics make each pack more rewarding than the previous one and people will feel rewarded for buying not feel stupid for opening random worthless commomns

    • TardisGreen
      January 19, 2022 at 2:27 AM

      I think you have some confusion as to how “for profit” companies work.

    • Inhiszton
      January 19, 2022 at 3:20 AM

      I don’t think the first priority of Microsoft (or any other investor) would be to twiddle with the tiny delicate mechanics of a not-so-important-part-of-the-pack game just because they bought the huge company around it.
      And, why would they do it that way? Less packs bought -> less sweet profit. I share your opinion it would be just fair to do so. Well, the world is totally not fair. At least it has much better graphics than our beloved card game XD

  4. X15d
    January 18, 2022 at 11:04 AM

    Silly microsoft, they could just download hearthstone for free

    • Stonekeep - Site Admin
      January 18, 2022 at 11:24 AM

      Yeah, but it would still cost them about $70 billion to get a full card collection, so why not just buy entire company.

    • Alglyphic
      January 18, 2022 at 5:08 PM

      “There’s no excuse; the MS crew should get us our games for free!”
      *chuckles* “Oh, just one!”

  5. Junehearth
    January 18, 2022 at 7:28 AM

    Microsoft Activision Blizzard