Microsoft has made its largest-ever acquisition. The company is buying 'Call of Duty' maker Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. It is also the largest-ever deal in the history of the gaming industry. Activision Blizzard is the maker of popular games such as Call of Duty, Candy Crush and Spider Aman Game franchise.Microsoft said that it expects the deal to close in 2023 fiscal year, which starts in July. The deal is even bigger than Microsoft's $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn. The deal also breaks the record set by Take-Two Interactive's acquisition of mobile game publisher Zynga for more than $11 billion. Another highlight point of this acquisition is that it’s an all cash deal! This makes it truly a historical event in business.How Microsoft may benefit from this deal?- Microsoft, the maker of the Xbox gaming system, will become one of the world's largest video game companies.- It will give Microsoft a competitive edge over the rival company Meta (Facebook) in creating immersive virtual worlds for both work and play. Facebook is considered the leader in the so-called metaverse, the name given to the virtual world.- Activision's library of games may help offer Microsoft's Xbox gaming platform an edge over Sony's Playstation, which has for years enjoyed a more steady stream of exclusive games.- As per Newzoo, Microsoft's gaming market share was 6.5% in 2020 and adding Activision may take it to 10.7%.- The takeover pushes Microsoft past Nintendo as the third-largest video game company by global revenue, behind Sony and Chinese tech giant Tencent.(With inputs from agencies)
