Microsoft has announced that it will acquiring Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, which easily makes it the most expensive acquisition deal in all of gaming. Speaking in an investor call following the acquisition (check full transcript through here), Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella highlighted one of the more essential parts of the deal.
The conglomerate of studios that make up Activision Blizzard also includes King, one of the biggest developers in the mobile gaming industry, best known for its work on Candy Crush. Given how it will also fall under the banner of Xbox Game Studios post-acquisition, Microsoft is set to have a strong presence in the very lucrative mobile gaming business as well, which in turn should strengthen its “approach to the consumer metaverse.” That, of course, also includes the other strong offerings Activision has in the mobile space, such as Call of Duty Mobile.
“Extending our horizon a bit, this transaction will make our approach to the consumer metaverse even stronger. That’s because our vision of the metaverse is based on intersecting global communities rooted in strong franchises. A big part of that is the fact that mobile is the biggest category of gaming, and it’s an area where we have not had a major presence before. This transaction adds one of the most successful mobile publishers to Microsoft Gaming, and I’m personally looking forward to learning from the innovative teams at King,” said Nadella.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has said that some of Activision’s content will be exclusive to Xbox platforms. There’s also been rumours of the eventual fate of ABK’s embattled CEO Bobby Kotick post-acquisition, as sources close to the matter have suggested that he will depart as soon as the acquisition is completed- read more on that through here.