Acquisition of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft: what will be the impact for video game players?
Microsoft announced on January 17 the acquisition of the firm Activision-Blizzard for just over 86 billion Canadian dollars.PHOTO: Radio Canada
Microsoft, which manufactures the Xbox game console, among others, announced on January 17 the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard for just over 86 billion Canadian dollars. This is the most significant transaction in the video game industry to date, especially since according to Jean-Sylvain Sormany, office manager at Snowed In Studios in Ottawa, Activision-Blizzard is one of largest video game publishers on the planet.
Indeed, the company is behind many successful games, such as World of Warcraft and Candy Crush. She also owns, since 2005, the Beenox studio in Quebec.
That’s 10,000 employees and 35 development studios. […] In recent years, it has really become a mammoth
, explains our expert.
Mr. Sormany believes that Microsoft’s purchase of the company could have repercussions for video game players, in particular users of Sony’s PlayStation console.
« Many producers under Activision-Blizzard will probably start making exclusives for the Xbox or for the Windows platform. This gives it a definite advantage over its great rival, Sony and its PlayStation. »
Moreover, the astronomical amount of the transaction does not surprise Jean-Sylvain Sormany. These are still very important figures, but there are also revenues that come with that. All of these games bring in a lot of money. There is reason to believe that this is a good strategy for the future of Microsoft
, he believes.