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Microsoft has officially closed its $68.7 billion deal to acquire Activision Blizzard.
This follows the announcement this morning that the deal had been cleared by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, following revisions to it by Microsoft that aimed to allay the regulator’s concerns about the effect the acquisition could have on cloud gaming.
In getting the deal over the line, Microsoft has taken ownership of series including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Diablo, as well as adding a list of developers that includes the likes of Infinity Ward and Treyarch to its Xbox Game Studios contingent. The deal also helps it on the mobile gaming front, by adding Candy Crush Saga developer King to Microsoft’s arsenal.
“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,” Microsoft’s head of gaming Phil Spencer wrote in an Xbox Wire post, “We’ll do this in a culture that strives to empower everyone to do their best work, where all people are welcome, and is centered on our ongoing commitment of Gaming for Everyone.”
“Together, we’ll create new worlds and stories, bring your favorite games to more places so more players can join in, and we’ll engage with and delight players in new, innovative ways in the places they love to play including mobile, cloud streaming and more, “ he continued.
Spencer also added: “As promised, we will also continue to make more games available in more places – and that begins now by enabling cloud streaming providers and players to stream Activision Blizzard games in the European Economic Area, a commitment made to the European Commission. Today we start the work to bring beloved Activision, Blizzard, and King franchises to Game Pass and other platforms. We’ll share more about when you can expect to play in the coming months.”
Just in case you didn’t think that was quite enough, Microsoft has also posted a trailer (we don’t know either) celebrating the deal’s closure to YouTube.
As you can watch above, it boasts some retro music, lots of characters from Xbox and Activision Blizzard games, plus a bunch of mentions of the words “team” and “family”.
There’s even a weird Crash Bandicoot bit that I’m genuinely not sure if I’ve just hallucinated.
While Microsoft is taking a moment to bask in the fact the deal’s now closed, as reported by Bloomberg, it could still face some opposition from the Federal Trade Commission in the US, with the body having confirmed that it plans to go ahead with an in-house challenge.