Microsoft Announces Acquisition of Activision Blizzard

Microsoft has announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. While the companies will stay independent until the transaction is finished, all studios and teams from the company will report to Microsoft Gaming and its CEO, Phil Spencer.

Activision Blizzard is one of the biggest western companies, having ownership of classic IPs such as Call of Duty, Diablo, Warcraft, Overwatch, Spyro, Crash and many others. Though it’ll now become a part of Microsoft Gaming, Microsoft mentions they’re committed to foster the communities that enjoyed them on a variety of platforms besides the Xbox systems.

Recently, Activision Blizzard has been involved in some sexual harassment scandals and denounced as a toxic workplace. As part of their announcement, Microsoft Gaming mentions that they plan to value the individual studio cultures, “treating every person with dignity and respect” and spreading their own inclusive culture to these multiple studios.

As part of the announcement, Microsoft has also shared an image of its own gaming leadership team, with Phil Spencer as CEO and multiple other people in different areas. Considering the current Activision Blizzard scandals also implicate the current CEO, Bobby Kotick, this might indicate a structure change to further prove the culture change Microsoft talks about in the acquisition announcement.

Here’s the image of their gaming leadership team: