Xbox is buying Activision Blizzard for £50 billion - Call Of Duty now exclusive?

In what is undoubtedly the most shocking video game acquisition of all time, Microsoft has bought the maker of Overwatch and Warcraft.

If you thought Microsoft’s $7.5 billion purchase of Bethesda was an eye-watering amount of money, then consider the fact that they have now paid $68.7 billion (£50.5 billion) for the whole of Activision Blizzard.

Beyond the official announcement there are few details at the moment, but you would assume that Microsoft got them relatively cheap, given the controversy over the last few months involving toxic work conditions.

Microsoft hasn’t made it clear when they first started talking to Activision Blizzard but it was likely some time ago, as deals like this aren’t usually made in a hurry. Although the news is especially surprising considering that Microsoft was threating to ‘break ties’ with Activision Blizzard as recently as last November.

Although Activision Blizzard has always put out curiously few games for such a large publisher this gives Microsoft direct control over franchises including Call Of Duty, Warcraft, Tony Hawk, Diablo, Overwatch, Spyro The Dragon, Hearthstone, Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot, StarCraft, and (because Activision owns publisher King) Candy Crush.

It also means they now own developers including Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, and Treyarch.

The deal will take some time to close but once it does Microsoft will offer ‘as many Activision Blizzard games as we can’ via Game Pass, including new and old titles.

According to Microsoft the number of Game Pass subscribers has now hit 25 million, but previous reports suggested that it was growing at a slower rate than Microsoft anticipated.

It’s no doubt hoped that the Activision Blizzard purchase will help to speed things up, especially as it seems almost certain that every future Activision Blizzard game will become an Xbox exclusive.

That’s exactly what’s happening with Bethesda and it’s hard to imagine it won’t also be true of Call Of Duty et al., although Microsoft hasn’t commented one way or the other yet.

They have made an oblique reference to Activision Blizzard’s corporate culture though, saying that ‘We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect.

‘We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.’