As the gaming world watched in stunned silence, Microsoft revealed that it will purchase big publisher Activision Blizzard for a whopping $68.7 billion, making it the largest acquisition in the history of the industry.
This follows in the footsteps of Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda and all of its developers, which took place in 2020. As a result, there have been concerns that this could be detrimental to the gaming industry, with players of the PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 being left out in the cold as Microsoft bolsters the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S with exclusive games.
While I am not a business expert, I do not believe that Activision Blizzard’s acquisition by Microsoft is a negative development for the company or a symptom of an insipid monopoly forming inside the gaming industry. Instead, I believe there are some positive aspects to this agreement, and that it has the potential to be quite beneficial to gamers. Allow me to explain why.
As a result, Xbox Game Pass becomes even more attractive.
Although it’s not new to declare that Xbox Game Pass is the best value in gaming, it’s worth repeating: for a single cost, you can have access to a seemingly endless number of titles. From conventional shooters to interesting indie games, and including all of Xbox Game Studio’s first-party releases such as Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5, these games cover a wide range of genres.
With the acquisition of Bethesda, Microsoft expanded the Game Pass library to include a number of the developer’s titles. And it intends to do the same with Activision Blizzard’s portfolio, which means that a variety of Call of Duty games, Overwatch, Diablo, and other titles will be available on Game Pass starting in 2023, most likely.
With games from Bethesda and a slew of EA titles, not the least of which being the upcoming Mass Effect Legendary Edition, Game Pass becomes a must-have service for pretty much any device that can support it.
More games can be played at a lower cost.
It is not everyone who can afford the $50 to $70 pricing that many titles now command, let alone a $499 Xbox Series X gaming console. And that’s especially true for countries that aren’t blessed with the richness of the United States or Europe; for some, even one game a month may be too much of a stretch to afford.
However, for just $10 a month, Xbox Game Pass gives you access to a plethora of games, both old and new, which means you don’t even have to be a long-time Xbox gamer to enjoy some of the best Xbox games released over the course of the last two decades. Blizzard has already confirmed the development of a new survival game, which will most likely be available only on the Xbox One and PC. That helps to democratize gaming, which is beneficial to gamers from all walks of life.
Certainty, Microsoft could raise the price of Game Pass, similar to what we’ve seen Netflix do in the past by raising rates. However, I believe it will still be a good deal for what it is offering: access to a large number of games across a variety of platforms, generations, and publishers.
Play games that are comparable to those found on consoles anywhere.
Extending Xbox Game Pass appears to have the unintended consequence of making popular games such as Overwatch, World of Warcraft and others available to anyone with a decent internet connection, whether wired or 5G, in addition to making them more accessible to people with limited financial resources.
In fact, you don’t even need an Xbox machine to play a variety of games with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, as cloud-powered game streaming allows you to play games like Gears 5 on the top smartphones and Chromebooks.
Being able to stream the latest and greatest Xbox Series X games to an Xbox One or any compatible device is fantastic, especially considering how difficult it is to locate Xbox Series X replenishment. It means that individuals who are unable to obtain or cannot afford to purchase the most recent console generation can still enjoy a new generation of gaming. This would also benefit PlayStation fans, as they would be able to access Game Pass on a variety of devices even if they did not want to purchase an Xbox console.
In fact, even if you have every system available, being able to stream recent games to a smartphone while on the go is really convenient; Microsoft is even working on retrofitting touchscreen controllers into some games.
A detoxification from toxicity
Activision Blizzard is currently entangled in a legal battle in the United States over the way company has handled its employees. Furthermore, the corporation has come under a great deal of attention for allegedly fostering a hostile work atmosphere, which is particularly harmful to women.
While the publisher isn’t experiencing significant financial difficulties, it’s not surprising that it hasn’t turned out a particularly strong game in a long time; dissatisfied employees rarely produce excellent work. Prior to the announcement of the acquisition, Phil Spencer, the head of Xbox and the recently appointed CEO of Microsoft Gaming, had been outspoken in his criticism of the behavior of Activision Blizzard as a company and its executive board.
It’s impossible for Microsoft to tell exactly what will happen to Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard and a man who has been heavily involved in the turmoil surrounding the publisher, because of the way acquisitions and publicly traded firms operate. However, the structure of the Microsoft Gaming division appears to make it apparent that there is no capacity for two CEOs, which means that Kotick is likely to be out of a job in the near future.
Consequently, I have high hopes that Microsoft will eliminate the poisonous components of Activision Blizzard and establish a more positive workplace culture. The company appears to have learned from its early mistakes in terms of studio purchases, such as the now-defunct Lionhead, and appears to have become more wiser in terms of helping independent developers while still allowing them to choose their own course financially. Many of Activision Blizzard’s studios and teams may find themselves with greater freedoms and a less challenging atmosphere in which to work as a result of this decision.
Instead of just another repetitive Call of Duty game, all of this might lead to better and more innovative games in the future. Spencer has stated that he would want to see more of Activision Blizzard’s earlier games make a reappearance in some capacity. As a result, we could witness a rush of innovation from the publisher’s developers, which is beneficial to the game industry. Several examples of this can be linked back to companies such as Obsidian Entertainment being given the freedom to work on Avowed or Double Fine being given the opportunity to produce Psychonauts 2, which was developed without the consent of a traditional publisher.
Access to cutting-edge technology from around the world
Microsoft may be heavily involved in the gaming industry, but it is first and foremost a technology corporation. And it implies that all of the developers it has bought will be able to take advantage of the vast amount of technology Redmond possesses. Windows Azure is the second-largest cloud platform after Amazon Web Services, and it supports everything from streaming services to development tools and machine learning algorithms.
Thus, a developer who may have been on a tight budget and unable to purchase Azure cloud tools would suddenly be able to do so without incurring additional expenses. As a result of Microsoft’s efforts in machine learning, I can see games with more intelligent AI in the future. Alternatively, having more stable servers as a result of the support provided by the Microsoft Cloud.
Again, this is beneficial to players because it could result in more original games that are also more visually appealing and faster to play. These games may potentially be included in the next version of Windows; it may seem absurd, but think if the next Windows 11 update included Skyrim, which appears to be loaded on nearly every computer on the planet.
I’ll preface everything above by noting that I might be really naive and that I could be placing far too much trust in a corporation that, in my opinion, has been a good entity over the previous several years. And I’m certain that some staunch PlayStation fans will be disappointed with the deal.
However, out of all the firms that could have purchased Activision Blizzard, I believe Microsoft is the most appropriate buyer.
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Lyna Patel, writer and avid reader with a love for exploring the human experience through my writing. I believe that writing is not just about putting words on a page, it's about capturing the essence of what it means to be human. I strive to create stories that are both honest and authentic, that reveal the beauty and complexity of the human experience in all its forms. I believe that writing has the power to connect us with others, to bring us closer together, and to help us understand ourselves and the world around us.
