Wow indeed. The thunderclap of the news of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7bn – the largest in the brief history of video games, and grossly overshadowing the $7.5bn Microsoft paid up for Bethesda – is still ringing noisily. The reverberations won’t let up for some time, and right now there’s a scramble to simply understand what it all means.
Will Call of Duty be an Xbox console exclusive? Is this predominantly a play for mobile, given King’s presence in Activision’s stable and Microsoft’s absence in that space? When’s Singularity hitting Games Pass? Does this mean we might finally be getting a new DJ Hero?!?!
Who knows, frankly, for today’s announcement, delivered in the dead prose that’s had all life and most meaning sucked dry as it’s passed the desk of a dozen lawyers before being pushed live, was thin on details.
We know the cold, hard facts – the lucrative franchises that Microsoft stands to gain such as Call of Duty, Warcraft and Overwatch, the studios of immense talent it inherits and that eye-watering $68.7bn that caps it all – but some other all-important details remain elusive.