You must have heard about it since the news has been around the world during the last few days, the Activision-Blizzard group has been bought by Microsoft! An announcement that divided the gaming world.
The acquisition of Activision
Microsoft has just completed the largest financial transaction in the field of video games. Indeed, the American giant bought Activision for almost 70 billion dollars! For those who do not know, Activision has a large number of franchises very popular with players, such as Overwatch, Diablo, Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, Warcraft, Crash Bandicoot, StarCraft, Spyro or Tony Hawk's. Some of these franchises were also PlayStation exclusives (Crash bandicoot, Spyro), enough to put a smile on the faces of players who can now hope for the arrival of these games on Xbox. But that's not all. Indeed, this acquisition also allows Microsoft to make a place for itself in the smartphone video game sector. In 2015, Activision bought King (Candy Crush Saga), one of the largest companies in the sector, for $ 5.4 billion. Microsoft also owns, in addition to the console versions, the game Calle le Futur: Mobile (among others). If COD was able to see the light of day on smartphones, we can hope that Microsoft will continue to ride the wave by offering other big franchises. Activision also said in a statement, " Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will allow players to enjoy their favorite franchises, like Halo and Warcraft, wherever they want ." Microsoft added: "Activision Blizzard's extraordinary franchises will also accelerate our cloud gaming program, enabling more gamers in more places around the world to join the Xbox community via their phones, tablets, laptops… Activision Blizzard games are available on different platforms and we look forward to continuing to support these communities in the future."
The franchises concerned
Many franchises are concerned by this acquisition (non-exhaustive list): Franchises available on consoles / PC:
- Call of Duty
- Warcraft
- Tony Hawk
- Diablo
- Overwatch
- Sekiro: Shadows die twice
- Spyro
- Guitar Hero
- Crash Bandicoot
- Starcraft
Franchises available on smartphone:
- Candy Crush Saga
- Hearthstone
- Bubble witch Saga
- Farm Hero Saga
- Diamond Dairies Saga
- Pet rescue
What does this change concretely?
PlayStation fans are entitled to ask themselves a number of questions. And one of the most "important": will some franchises become Xbox exclusives? To this, here is what the CEO of Microsoft replied: "I would just like to say to the players who currently play Activision Blizzard games on Sony's platform: we do not intend to drive communities away from this platform and we remain committed to this process." This statement should reassure a large number of players who were worried about no longer having access to Call of Duty games. So what about Xbox gamers? For their part, the year 2022 begins with very good news since the catalog will expand considerably. And the American giant does not intend to stop there. Microsoft also said, "We will then offer as many Activision Blizzard titles as possible in Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, whether they are new games or classics from Activision Blizzard's incredible catalog." As many already know, gamers choose their consoles in large parts based on the exclusives available. Although Sony has been leading sales in recent years, this acquisition may be a game changer for the future… To follow. It will take several months before seeing the first consequences of this purchase. But tell us, for you, rather good or bad news?
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