The all-cash transaction is valued at $68.7 billion, and Microsoft says it will make the company the third-largest gaming company by revenue, after Tencent and Sony.
“We believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment,” said Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming CEO, in an official statement Tuesday. “We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.”
The agreement is pending regulatory review and Activision Blizzard shareholder approval, with the deal set to close in 2023. The companies will continue to operate independently until the transaction is finalized, after which Activision Blizzard will report to Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming CEO. Activision Blizzard’s stock shot up more than 30% ahead of the market open Tuesday morning; Microsoft shares fell around 1.5%.
The acquisition would boost Microsoft’s gaming business with the addition of Activision Blizzard games and the nearly 400 million monthly active players that come with them. Microsoft will also acquire Activision’s global game studios and its nearly 10,000 employees, according to the company.
Microsoft’s plans for cloud gaming will be accelerated by the deal, with the company hoping to push the Xbox community onto phone, tablets, laptops and other devices globally. And popular titles from Activision such as “Candy Crush” will improve Microsoft’s position in mobile gaming, too.
“Acquiring Activision will help jump start MSFT’s broader gaming endeavors and ultimately its move into the metaverse with gaming the first monetization piece of the metaverse in our opinion,” Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said in a statement Tuesday.
The metaverse has been hailed as the next big thing for the tech industry — although there’s still a long way to go until such a virtual world is a reality, video games are likely to play a central role.
“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a statement.