Microsoft completes its Activision Blizzard acquisition after a 20-month battle with regulators in the UK and the US; Bobby Kotick will remain CEO through 2023
Combining with Microsoft will enable us to deliver more fun, more joy … BBC : Microsoft completes $69bn takeover of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard Tom Warren / The Verge : Read Xbox chief Phil Spencer's memo welcoming Activision Blizzard employees to Microsoft Paul Tassi / Forbes : A List Of Every Activision Blizzard IP Microsoft Now Owns, And Can Revive Reuters : Microsoft closes $69 billion Activision deal after Britain's nod Dan Milmo / The Guardian : Microsoft completes $69bn deal to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard Phil Spencer / VideoCardz.com : Activision Blizzard King is now part of Microsoft Xbox, acquisition completed Sarah Parvini / Los Angeles Times : Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard in $69-billion gaming deal Brad Smith / Microsoft On the Issues : Microsoft affirms commitment to labor principles, CWA labor neutrality agreement Angela Watercutter / Wired : Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Deal Changes the Game Matt O'brien / Tech Xplore : Microsoft spent two years trying to buy Activision Blizzard. For Xbox CEO, that was the easy part Tony Polanco / Tom's Guide : Microsoft officially acquires Activision Blizzard — 3 reasons I'm excited Nicole Carpenter / Polygon : Bobby Kotick will remain Activision Blizzard CEO through 2023 Rachel Kaser / VentureBeat : Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard — now what? | Kaser Focus Stephen Totilo / Axios : Microsoft finally closes deal to buy Activision Blizzard Samuel Tolbert / Windows Central : Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal for Xbox is now officially done Kris Holt / Engadget : Microsoft officially owns Activision Blizzard, ending a 21-month battle with regulators Kate Irwin / Decrypt : Microsoft Now Owns ‘Call of Duty’ Maker Activision Blizzard—What Happens Next? Thomas Barrabi / New York Post : Microsoft closes $75B Activision deal despite lingering FTC challenge Ethan Gach / Kotaku : Microsoft Finally Closes Massive Activision Blizzard Deal, Making Call Of Duty Officially Part Of Xbox Now Kellen Browning / New York Times : As Microsoft Completes Activision Deal, Gamers Celebrate Cautiously Sean Endicott / Windows Central : Microsoft just purchased Activision Blizzard. How long until Call of Duty and other ABK games make it to Game Pass? Rawmeatcowboy / GoNintendo : Microsoft closes deal to purchase Activision Blizzard Kris Holt / Engadget : Bobby Kotick will remain Activision Blizzard CEO until the end of 2023 New York Times : Microsoft Closes $69 Billion Activision Deal, Overcoming Regulators' Objections Thomas Wilde / GeekWire : Microsoft now owns Activision Blizzard, which shifts the balance of power in video games Justin Charity / The Ringer : Four Takeaways From the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard Deal Ryan Whitwam / ExtremeTech : Microsoft Closes $68.7 Billion Acquisition of Activision Blizzard Jordan Novet / CNBC : Microsoft closes $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard after lengthy regulatory review Bogdan Solca / Notebookcheck : Microsoft finalizes Activision Blizzard King acquisition deal Smangaliso Simelane / Destructoid : Bobby Kotick stepping down as Activision Blizzard CEO following acquisition Aaron Holmes / The Information : Microsoft Closes $69 Billion Activision Acquisition Alex Perry / Mashable : The Microsoft Activision Blizzard deal is official — here's what this means for gamers Josh Broadwell / For The Win : Microsoft completes its $69 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition Dennis Patrick / Gameranx : Read Phil Spencer's Memo To The Recently Acquired Activision Blizzard Employees Nikki Main / Gizmodo : Microsoft Finally Completes Activision Blizzard Deal Trone Dowd / The Messenger : Microsoft Closes $69 B Deal To Buy Activision Blizzard, CEO Bobby Kotick To Resign Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter : Microsoft Closes $69B Acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Creating Video Game Powerhouse Neville Lahiru / Game Rant : Microsoft Officially Acquires Activision Blizzard Taylor Soper / GeekWire : Microsoft completes landmark Activision Blizzard acquisition after 21-month regulatory saga Variety : Microsoft Closes $69 Billion Acquisition of Activision Blizzard GFreeman / TechPowerUp : Microsoft Completes Acquisition of Activision Blizzard USA Today : Microsoft closes massive deal to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard Ben Kerry / Pure Xbox : Activision CEO Bobby Kotick Set To Leave The Company In Early 2024 Usaid / GamingBolt : Ubisoft Executive Says That Physical Sales Might Continue To Decline, But There's Always “A Collector's Edition Market” Ryan Dinsdale / IGN : The Microsoft Activision Blizzard Deal: A Complete Timeline of Events George Foster / TheGamer : Bobby Kotick Is Resigning As CEO Of Activision Blizzard In 2024 Ash Parrish / The Verge : Bobby Kotick will stay at Activision Blizzard until the end of this year Oli Welsh / Polygon : 21 months later, Microsoft finally owns Activision Blizzard Steve Vegvari / iPhone in Canada Blog : Microsoft Closes Activision Blizzard Acquisition, Following 20 Months of Regulatory Battles Justin Kahn / 9to5Toys : Microsoft has now officially closed its $69 billion acquisition of Activision, Blizzard, and King Rafly Pratama / MSPoweruser : Microsoft isn't hurrying in bringing Call of Duty games to Xbox Game Pass Nickie Louise / TechStartups : Microsoft seals Activision Blizzard deal after UK regulatory approval Paul Sawers / TechCrunch : Why Microsoft had to relinquish Activision's cloud-gaming rights outside Europe Bloomberg : Microsoft Completes $69 Billion Activision Blizzard Purchase Paul Tassi / Forbes : How Microsoft's Activision Blizzard Deal Closing Opens The Floodgates PC Gamer : Bobby Kotick to remain Activision CEO ‘through the end of 2023’ as Microsoft quickly closes acquisition following UK approval Aleksandar Perišić / Dot Esports : Gamers can't agree on their feelings about Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard Rik Henderson / T3 : Sony plans new PS5 Call of Duty bundle as rival finally gets Activision deal over the line Tom Ivan / Video Games Chronicle : Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick will remain as CEO until the end of 2023 Oli Welsh / Polygon : When is Call of Duty coming to Game Pass? Threads: Miguel de Icaza / @migueldeicaza : Sad day for competition. Leveraging your deep windows, office and azure pockets to suck the air supply of an industry.. The European regulators were a deep disappointment. Tom Warren / @tomwarrenuk : it sounds like Microsoft won't add Activision Blizzard games to Xbox Game Pass immediately. “We'll share more about when you can expect to play in the coming months,” says Xbox chief Phil Spencer. “We know you're excited - and we are too.” https://www.theverge.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarrenuk : BREAKING: Microsoft completes Activision Blizzard acquisition, Call of Duty is now part of Xbox. After 20 months of regulatory battles, Microsoft's giant $68.7 billion gaming deal is complete. Full details here 👉 https://www.theverge.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarrenuk : Microsoft was never going to just close over the CMA and disregard a regulator's decision. I've maintained that since May, when certain analysts were suggesting this could happen and others were cheering this idea on. It's just not how you do business 🤷 Mastodon: Corbin Davenport / @corbin@toot.community : The Activision acquisition feels like a pretty big failure from regulatory authorities, Microsoft was already (arguably) too big after the Bethesda/ZeniMax acquisition. It's not great that EA is supposedly shopping around for a buyer, too. 🙃 — https://news.xbox.com/... X: Jason Schreier / @jasonschreier : As the Microsoft-Activision deal closes, Bobby Kotick says he'll stay on as CEO through the end of the year. On January 1, 2024, Kotick will depart the company he took over 33 years ago — a massive change for the video game industry Brad Smith / @bradsmi : As we welcome the employees of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft, we remain committed to our labor principles and innovative approach to union partnerships. https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ... Phil Spencer / @xboxp3 : Today is a good day to play. We officially welcome Activision Blizzard King to Team Xbox. Together, we'll create stories and experiences that bring players together, in a culture empowering everyone to do their best work and celebrate diverse perspectives. https://news.xbox.com/... Lulu Cheng Meservey / @lulumeservey : To our amazing gaming community — thank you. You make this work so meaningful and fun. Serving you is an honor. To our brilliant ABK team — congrats!! You've built an iconic company and I'm proud to work with you. To our new Xbox fam — we're stoked to join you. Let's do this. Kellen Browning / @kellen_browning : New: Gamers are cautiously optimistic about Microsoft assuming control of Activision's video games. “There's a lot of energy and hype and attention, but with that comes skepticism, and expectations are a lot higher, ” said Justin Katz (@ItsFearItSelf). https://www.nytimes.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarren : Xbox chief Phil Spencer has sent an email to all Microsoft employees to welcome Activision Blizzard to Xbox. Read the full memo here 👉 https://www.theverge.com/... [image] Dina Bass / @dinabass : Bobby Kotick will stay in his role until the end of this year, reporting to Phil Spencer, Spencer says in an email to employees that Microsoft shared. Satya Nadella / @satyanadella : Today is a great day for gamers everywhere. Together with Activision Blizzard, we will deliver on our vision to help people connect and play great games wherever, whenever, and however they want. Tom Warren / @tomwarren : Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will stay on as CEO of ABK until the end of 2023 to help with the transition period https://www.theverge.com/... [image] @xbox : So many stories to tell, so many characters to meet, so many worlds to explore... It's a good day to play: https://news.xbox.com/... [video] LinkedIn: Steven Dowling Jr : This is a dream come true for me. Memories of creating boot disks to tweak EMM386 just right to get my 486 sx25 enough upper memory … Steven Vonder Haar : Never thought I'd see the day. Microsoft completes acquisition of Activision after seemingly 2,347 twists and turns in the regulatory approval process. … Rachit Gupta : In case you were planning to discontinue your xbox game pass, more is coming your way! Niki Ozment Buchanan : While my boss is playing CoD, I'll be playing Candy Crush! Something for everyone! What are your favs? … Tom Koch : We love gaming 🎮 and today is a good day to play, congrats to the Activision Blizzard team and welcome to the Microsoft family! … Justin Kruger : The biggest deal in gaming history is done. This is one of the most significant deals in gaming M&A and will have huge impact on the future landscape of publisher and first party game development. … Kortni Lee : I've only been at Activision Blizzard Media a hot minute, but SO excited to be a part of Team XBox and the Microsoft family. I can't wait to see this next chapter unfold. … Colin Cashin : Today, ABK finally joins Team XBox. The future is filled with opportunities for both our existing and unannounced franchises. … J.D. Roux : I don't think I have ever worked for so long towards something I wanted so much. It's over. And yet, it's just the beginning... … Sarah Bond : We've overjoyed to welcome the talented teams and legendary franchises from Activision Blizzard King to the Xbox family! … Forums: Hacker News : Microsoft Closes $69B Activision Deal, Overcoming Regulators' Objections r/XboxSeriesX : Kotick to leave Activision-Blizzard on January 1st 2024 r/playstation : Microsoft closes $69 billion Activision deal after Britain's nod r/XboxSeriesX : We're excited to welcome Activision Blizzard King to Xbox! r/XboxSeriesX : Activision Blizzard King Joins Xbox - Official Trailer r/pcgaming : Activision Blizzard King Joins Xbox - Official Trailer r/Competitiveoverwatch : Activision Blizzard King Joins Xbox - Official Trailer r/XboxGamePass : We're excited to welcome Activision Blizzard King to Team Xbox! r/THPS : Xbox just announced the merger - there's a shot of a skater at around 0:27... maybe there's a chance. r/aoe2 : What can we expect from the takeover of Activision Blizzard for AoE? At this point Microsoft seems to be quite invested into the gaming industry r/xbox : We're excited to welcome Activision Blizzard King to Xbox! r/xboxone : We're excited to welcome Activision Blizzard King to Xbox! r/XboxSeriesS : We're excited to welcome Activision Blizzard King to Team Xbox! r/gaming : Welcoming the Legendary Teams at Activision Blizzard King to Team Xbox r/xbox : Activision Blizzard King Joins Xbox r/heroesofthestorm : The deal is done. “Welcoming the Legendary Teams at Activision Blizzard King” r/Diablo : The deal is one. “Welcoming the Legendary Teams at Activision Blizzard King” r/crashbandicoot : Welcoming the Legendary Teams at Activision Blizzard King to Team Xbox - Xbox Wire r/starcraft : It's official: the deal is done. “Welcoming the Legendary Teams at Activision Blizzard King” r/xboxone : Welcoming the Legendary Teams at Activision Blizzard King to Team Xbox r/Overwatch : Microsoft has officially purchased Blizzard r/gamingnews : Microsoft completes Activision Blizzard acquisition, Call of Duty now part of Xbox r/gamernews : Microsoft completes Activision Blizzard acquisition, Call of Duty now part of Xbox r/technews : Microsoft completes Activision Blizzard acquisition, Call of Duty now part of Xbox | Microsoft now publishes franchises like Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. r/technology : Microsoft completes Activision Blizzard acquisition, Call of Duty now part of Xbox | Microsoft now publishes franchises like Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush. r/pcgaming : Welcoming the Legendary Teams at Activision Blizzard King to Team Xbox Beehaw : Microsoft completes Activision Blizzard acquisition, Call of Duty now part of Xbox Ars OpenForum : CEO Bobby Kotick will leave Activision Blizzard on January 1, 2024