What you need to know
- Microsoft is currently in the process of acquiring Activision Blizzard for almost $69 billion.
- The deal is going through regulatory review, with the UK Competition and Markets Authority, raising some concerns about possible impacts on competition.
- In a response from Microsoft to the CMA, Microsoft outlined how the acquisition of Activision Blizzard will enable Microsoft to create a new Xbox storefront that extends across mobile devices.
- Microsoft aims for this new Xbox Mobile Platform to compete with the Google Play Store and App Store.
While Microsoft is continuing to talk with regulators about its big impending purchase, new details of what the future holds are being revealed.
Microsoft is working to acquire Activision Blizzard for almost $69 billion, a deal that is going through regulatory review around the world. In a response to the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Microsoft detailed its opinion why the deal will not have a negative effect on competition. Microsoft also shared (as noted by The Verge) that it is working to build an Xbox mobile gaming store.
"Building on Activision Blizzard’s existing communities of gamers, Xbox will seek to scale the Xbox Store to mobile, attracting gamers to a new Xbox Mobile Platform," the company explained. "Shifting consumers away from the Google Play Store and App Store on mobile devices will, however, require a major shift in consumer behaviour. Microsoft hopes that by offering well-known and popular content, gamers will be more inclined to try something new."
Microsoft currently has 24 first-party studios across Xbox Game Studios and Bethesda Softworks, including the oft-forgotten Casual Games team. While there is some talent focused on mobile gaming — such as Alpha Dog Games under Bethesda Softworks — the lion's share of this development is focused on console and PC gaming, with teams at Arkane Austin and Bethesda Games Studios working on titles like Redfall and Starfield.
With Activision Blizzard, Microsoft would gain a huge number of development teams with mobile gaming expertise, with Activision's mobile Call of Duty titles, Blizzard Entertainment expanding across mobile with games like Diablo Immortal and Warcraft Arclight Rumble, and publisher King responsible for titles like Candy Crush.
Microsoft's deal to acquire Activision Blizzard was recently approved by Brazilian regulator CADE. The deal is also being investigated by the aforementioned CMA, the European Commission, and the FTC in the U.S.
