Very recently, Microsoft shocked the gaming industry by announcing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. An estimated 68.7 billion dollars was reportedly spent on the deal. This information had a significant impact on Sony, which saw a decline in its value at the opening of the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday.
According to Bloomberg, the market value of Sony shares has decreased by 13%, or almost $20 billion. Since October 2008, it has been the largest decline of the company’s shares.
Microsoft’s Acquisition
Microsoft’s buyout of Activision Blizzard is already the greatest business transaction in the worldwide gaming business. Before this, Bethesda’s parent company, Zenimax Media, was purchased for about US$7.5 billion in 2021 when it was finalized.
It is anticipated that the takeover will help Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer continue forward with his company’s Cloud Gaming strategy and make Xbox gaming more accessible to a wider range of individuals across the world. Additionally, Xbox Game Pass, which already boasts more than 25 million customers, will include Activision Blizzard games.
Activision’s stock closed Friday at a 45% premium to Microsoft’s bid price of $95 / share. Before the news came out, Activision’s stock was up over 38% to $65.39 per share (Reuters).
“As we pursue that mission, it is incredibly exciting to announce that Microsoft has agreed to acquire Activision Blizzard.”
– Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming
Microsoft’s Vision and Future Goals
To stay competitive with Meta (Facebook) in developing technology to construct a virtual environment dubbed the metaverse, Microsoft has a long-term ambition with this acquisition. It was Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella who initially acknowledged the value of the metaverse months before Mark Zuckerberg.
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