Microsoft Negs Activision Blizzard to push through $68.7 Billion Acquisition

In order to obtain regulatory permission for the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is employing an intriguing strategy. According to a recent file obtained by Rock Paper Shotgun, the ailing publisher does not make any “must have” titles, according to the firm. You did read that correctly.

The business claims in the paper that there is nothing special about the video games created and released by Activision Blizzard that makes them a “must have” for competing PC and console video game distributors. Or, to put it another way, Microsoft thinks rivals like Sony won’t stop trying to compete with it even if it owns the rights to popular Activision Blizzard titles like Call of Duty.

That would initially appear to be an absurd argument to make regarding a business that Microsoft intends to pay $68.7 billion to purchase. However, the IT juggernaut is making this assertion in reaction to its competitors. Call of Duty was referred to be “an essential game” and a AAA title “that has no counterpart” by Sony in a file with Brazilian regulators. It contends that the franchise is so well-liked that it affects the consoles people choose to buy. Sony most likely has experience while speaking. The business and Activision signed a deal in 2015 that saw some Call of Duty material released early on PlayStation systems.

Microsoft has worked to appease authorities in a number of ways, one of which is by downplaying the significance of Call of Duty. The business promised in February that it would continue to keep the series accessible on PlayStation gaming systems once any contracts between Sony and Activision that were in existence before the purchase was made public ended. More recently, the business and the Communications Employees of America, which has been uniting video game workers all throughout the industry, reached a labour neutrality deal.