Microsoft shocked the gaming world this week when they announced they would purchased the beleaguered gaming publisher Activision Blizzard. Microsoft will purchase Activision, the maker of the Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Overwatch franchises, for nearly $70 billion dollars, which will serve to greatly strengthen their portfolio of game franchises for their XBox consoles. Activision Blizzard has been in the news for all the wrong reasons recently, with the company at the center of a massive scandal involving sexual harassment and a toxic workplace that led many of its partners to “re-evaluate” their relationship with the company. Microsoft was one such company, which makes it something of a surprise that they decided to purchase Activision Blizzard outright.
Obviously, this is the biggest gaming news story of 2022 so far, and gaming industry pundits and fans alike had a lot to say on the matter. Here’s some of the reactions from the gaming world about Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard:
Phil Spencer
As we extend the joy and community of gaming to everyone, we are incredibly excited to welcome the fantastic teams and iconic franchises of Activision Blizzard to Team Xbox https://t.co/DVrgYS8ssB
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 18, 2022
Laura Kate Dale
So, that Microsoft purchase of Activision Blizzard King huh?
My main response –
What do the striking ABK workers think?
What steps will Microsoft implement to see change at the company?
Will Kotick face consequences?
Will this change monetisation / working practices?
— Laura Kate Dale (@LaurakBuzz) January 18, 2022
Gita Jackson
A sentence a younger version of me wouldn’t believe: I wonder how the Biden administration will react to Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard
— Gita Jackson (@xoxogossipgita) January 18, 2022
Kars
Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard was not on my 2022 bingo sheet.
— Kars (@KaroshiMyriad) January 18, 2022
What Phil meant by Microsoft “changing” Activision
So I guess when Phil said Microsoft was “chang[ing] how we do things” with Activision-Blizzard, he meant buying them.
— Alexander Battaglia (@Dachsjaeger) January 18, 2022
Two biggest gaming deals in history in one week
We’ve now seen the two largest gaming deals ever in the past week.
Take Two’s acquisition of Zynga, valued at $12.7bn
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, valued at $68.7bn.
Can’t wait to see what happens next week lmao
— Daniel Ahmad (@ZhugeEX) January 18, 2022
More effective than any alarm
Groggily browsing Twitter and reading that Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard for 70 billion was more effective than any alarm
— Thaddeus Crews (@Repiteo) January 18, 2022
UP NEXT
