Microsoft is one of the wealthiest companies in the world and we mostly know them for owning the operating system Windows. But they also are now the third largest gaming company in the world following a recent acquisition with Activision Blizzard.

In Microsoft’s acquisition history there hasn’t been a bigger one than the acquisition they announced on January 18^th, 2022, with Activision Blizzard for around $70 Billion.

Microsoft has made several acquisitions in the past, the former largest purchase they made was back in 2016 of Linked in for $26 Billion. ZeniMax, who is known for video game franchise like Doom or Fallout, is one of Microsoft’s recent purchases in the video game market. Back in 2014 Microsoft claimed Mojang, the company which created the most sold video game in history,

Minecraft. Now with this purchase of Activision Blizzard, there is a lot surrounding the situation.

Photo credit: Axois.com

Activision has had lawsuits of alleged sexual harassment and gender-pay inequity which decreases the value of the company, which Microsoft might not have to pay as much after all. An employee from Activision named Christine spoke out on her experiences at Activision. She claimed she was harassed on several occasions and was told to not say anything about it. When she eventually spoke out about it, she was allegedly demoted for doing so. “When I complained to my supervisors, I was told, ‘They were just joking’ and that I should get over it,” said Christine (Windows Central, 2022).

This happened in December of 2021, and there were other lawsuits and occasions against the company in the past year. Once the acquisition takes place, the CEO of Activision Blizzard Bobby Kotick will apparently step down, and if not, they would still have to report to Microsoft Gaming’s CEO Phil Spencer. This could mean an improvement in working conditions if Microsoft wants to be able to save Activision Blizzard from employees leaving.

We as the consumers watch and wonder, what does this mean for us? Microsoft is growing more and more and there is no sign of them stopping as they obtain more and more intellectual property.

Many may consider Microsoft’s position in the console market as being lesser than their largest rival, Sony, and their position in the “console war”, but if Microsoft gains more companies and titles to put on their console as exclusives, Microsoft would have a much larger advantage in the console war.

It would not be favorable to us as the consumers if Microsoft decided to take many beloved games away from other platforms, however there is no sign of this happening as games like Minecraft or Doom are able to be found on other platforms like the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation.

Let us just hope that with this recent acquisition, Microsoft improves the video games from Activision Blizzard and their business model, while also not limiting their games to Microsoft owned platforms.

Photo Credit: The Verge