Starting in January 2022, Microsoft is pursuing a major and expensive deal to acquire Activision Blizzard. With a value of 68,700 million dollars, this has become the most expensive agreement in the video game industry and Microsoft itself. Taking into account that it is totally linked to the gaming segment, we might think that in the worst case, Xbox would be affected. Nevertheless, Phil SpencerCEO Gaming de Microsofthas declared that if the agreement of Activision Blizzard fails, Xbox will continue to exist.
Microsoft has had to seriously fight to try to acquire Activision Blizzard ever since it announced it was going to buy it and all games would go to Xbox Game Pass. Since then, we have seen how regulators around the world have turned against this agreement being fulfilled. The main reason why they have not allowed this agreement to close is because it is believed that yes Microsoft buys Activision Blizzard, will dominate the video game market. If we add to this the pressure exerted by Sony with Call of Dutythis leaves Microsoft unable to follow through with its initial plan.
Phil Spencer doesn’t want us to worry, Xbox will still exist
Microsoft has already been warned that if it really wants the deal to Activision Blizzard go ahead, you’ll have to leave call of duty behind. When the CMA delivered its tentative conclusion, Microsoft didn’t take it very well. What seemed to be the path to closing the acquisition and ending this ended with a complete refusal to accept Activision Blizzard without Call of Duty. Precisely, Sony was the one that put the pressure that the CoD saga was the most important for them and the one that would give the rival company an unparalleled advantage.
Seeing as the situation is, it seems that the agreement is not getting anywhere and in a matter of a few months, the regulators will issue their final conclusions. In this moment of uncertainty regarding this agreement, Phil Spencer of Microsoft assures that nothing will happen to Xbox if the purchase of Activision Blizzard fails.
Xbox sees competition as good for consumers
According to Spencer, head of Xbox, this acquisition it’s really important for the company, but it will not be the end if they do not achieve their objectives. It must be borne in mind that, after all, Xbox is still a console with good sales figures (despite being behind PS5) and with an extensive catalog of video games and developers. However, not everyone thinks like this, because for example Andy Robinsonowner of VCC News believes that there is a possibility of Xbox sale by Microsoft if the Activision Blizzard deal falls through.
Given these statements, we see that they are completely opposite points of view to what the head of Xbox thinks. In fact, Spencer also talked about how a more competition is a good thing and not a bad thing for the consumers. From his point of view, giving users more options to choose from is important in the industry. Meanwhile, we have already seen the Microsoft effortspromising 10 years of Call of Duty on Nintendo consoles if the purchase goes ahead. More recently we saw how Microsoft signed an agreement with NVIDIA where Call of Duty would come to GeForce NOW if Activision Blizzard purchase ends.
