It has been one year since Microsoft finally acquired Activision Blizzard for $68.7bn, making history as the biggest company buyout in the video games industry to date.
The deal was first announced back in 2022, but it was not a simple process. From the announcement, the acquisition was subject to intense scrutiny, which saw legal proceedings, investigations and revelations all come to the fore over an almost two year period.
Finally, on 13th October 2023, the deal was signed off. “As one team, we’ll learn, innovate, and continue to deliver on our promise to bring the joy and community of gaming to more people,” Xbox boss Phil Spencer said at the time.
Much has changed in the 12 months since.
Most notably, perhaps, we have unfortunately seen a devastating number of layoffs across Microsoft, including its gaming divisions, and Activision Blizzard studios. In January of this year, the company announced it was laying off 1900 people across its video game teams, including Activision Blizzard, ZeniMax and Xbox, equating to approximately eight percent of its gaming workforce.
At this time, it was announced that Blizzard president Mike Ybarra was departing Microsoft, along with Blizzard’s chief design officer Allen Adham. The execs’ exit from the company marked the end of Blizzard’s previously-announced survival game, which was being helmed by ex-Far Cry boss Dan Hay. When the game was first announced in 2022, Blizzard said it would be set in a “whole new universe”.
Soon after January’s announcement, it was then confirmed Toys for Bob – the Activision Blizzard studio behind the likes of Skylanders, Crash Bandicoot 4, and the remastered Spyro games – had lost 86 employees as part of this wave of layoffs. In February, Toys for Bob subsequently announced it was parting ways with Activision to become an independent company once more.
In May, yet more layoffs were announced at Microsoft, though this time in its Bethesda studios. Redfall and Dishonored developer Arkane Austin was closed, also marking the end of updates for the studio’s online co-op vampire shooter. Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks was also closed at this time, as was Mighty Doom studio Alpha Dog Games. Microsoft faced intense criticism for its decision to shutter these studios, with Arkane Lyon boss Dinga Bakaba calling it a “a fucking gut stab”.
Xbox’s Matt Booty discussed the then-closure of Tango Gameworks more in June, and, while he did not name names, the exec implied a change in leadership at the Hi-Fi Rush studio was a factor in Microsoft’s decision. Tango Gameworks has since been acquired by PUBG publisher Krafton. Tango Gameworks had a six-month old build of a Hi-Fi Rush sequel at the time of this acquisition.
More recently, last month Microsoft laid off a further 650 Xbox staff. This time, it said no games had been cancelled. The Communications Workers of America union (CWA) went on to denounce Microsoft’s decision to lay even more staff, calling it “extremely disappointing”.
Of course, the addition of Activision Blizzard to Xbox includes the platform holder now owning Call of Duty, instantly making Microsoft one of the biggest third-party publishers on PlayStation. But Xbox has gone further this year already, and introduced some of its other first-party games to additional platforms. In February, Microsoft confirmed it would be bringing four previously Xbox-exclusive first-party titles to PlayStation 5 and Switch.
The Xbox Games Studios-published title Sea of Thieves went on to top PlayStation 5 download charts in Europe following its debut on Sony’s console. Pentiment, Grounded and Hi-Fi Rush all also arrived on additional platforms, having once been Xbox console exclusives.
In August of this year, Microsoft announced Bethesda’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will also be releasing on PlayStation 5, after a brief period of Xbox console exclusivity. Industry professionals have also said it is understood the “majority” of Xbox games will eventually be coming to PlayStation in the future.
In addition to bringing more games to PlayStation and Switch, Microsoft has also started adding Activision Blizzard games to its Game Pass subscription service.
In March of this year, Diablo 4 made its game debut on Game Pass, which Xbox said was part of Microsoft’s “promise to offer Activision Blizzard games” on the subscription service. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 then joined Game Pass in July.
This year’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be available to subscribers when it arrives on 25th October (as a reminder, there is no campaign early access for this year’s Call of Duty release).
Back in July, Microsoft announced sweeping changes to Xbox Game Pass that would see day one releases being removed as a benefit to subscribers of the service’s revised basic tier.
That new tier – known as Game Pass Standard – is now live, but as Matt reported in September, subscribers are missing out on more than just new releases: Microsoft has pulled access to over 40 previously available games, including major titles like Starfield, Hellblade 2, and Diablo 4.
A number of leadership changes have also been announced within Microsoft since it acquired Activision Blizzard.
In January and following the departure of Mike Ybarra, Blizzard announced its new president: Activision’s former general manager of its Call of Duty franchise, Johanna Faries.
Then last October, Matt Booty, who was previously known as Head of Xbox Game Studios, landed the role of President, Game Content and Studios. Microsoft’s Sarah Bond also saw her role at the company expanded at this time, overseeing a swathe of internal teams under the new job role of President of Xbox.
Meanwhile, controversial Activision Blizzard boss Bobby Kotick departed the company at the end of December.
On the financial side of things, back in April, Microsoft announced its acquisition of Activision Blizzard had contributed to a boost in gaming revenue. However, at this time, the company also said Xbox console sales had taken another massive hit.
As for the future, Microsoft is still working on its own web-based Xbox mobile game store. Earlier this month, it was also announced Xbox owners in the US will be able to play and purchase games directly from the Xbox App on Android from November.
Last week, Eurogamer spoke to Jason Schreier to coincide with the launch of his book on Blizzard which covers the company’s history, and delves into the company’s misconduct troubles, swingers parties and what press got wrong when reporting on the high-profile State of California trial.
One year later, what do you think of Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard?