Here's What Games and Studios Microsoft Will Acquire Together With Activision
Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard is a huge deal that has the potential to change a lot in the gaming market. The number of developers working on games for the former company will triple as a result.
Yesterday Microsoft won in a U.S. court against the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which tried to block the company's acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Now the only obstacle is the British CMA, but all indications are that the parties will reach an agreement. This is the largest deal of its kind in the history of the game industry, and it is perfectly illustrated by two images that commentators Idle Sloth and Klobrille have prepared.
A treasure chest for Game Pass
The first of these shows potential games that may soon be coming to Game Pass:
Source: Idle Sloth
The graphic is a bit misleading, as in addition to obvious items such as Call of Duty, Diablo, Crash and Skylanders, there were several items based on the license of the Marvel comic book universe, for which putting them in the subscription would require a deal with Disney.
Of course, it can be done, but the question is whether Microsoft will find it worth paying extra for it.
Three times as many developers will work on Microsoft games
The second picture is less spectacular, but more important, as it shows how powerful a stable of developer teams Microsoft will own after the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The conglomerate's created or bought-out teams, which include more than 2,500 people and more than 2,300 developers from various Bethesda teams, will now be joined by more than 10,000 employees from Activision Blizzard's studios.
Source: Klobrille
Of course, there will probably have to be some layoffs, such as to avoid duplication of positions (since yesterday there has been talk of job cuts in Microsoft's sales and customer service departments), but even so the acquisition will result in a threefold increase in the number of developers working on games for Microsoft.
The Redmond giant has pledged that the next installments of Call of Duty will also be released on other platforms for a long time, but the remaining brands will most likely become PC and Xbox console exclusives in large part, which will undoubtedly greatly strengthen Microsoft's position in the gaming market.
