What Changes Will Blizzard Undergo Under the Leadership of Microsoft?

More recently, Microsoft has informed the public that it is going to buy Activision Blizzard for quite a large sum - 70 billion dollars.

As you know, Blizzard is a company in the gaming industry, which is known for many of its products in the gaming market (Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, for example).

Recently, they have experienced hard times: the number of users does not satisfy, new series of games are not released, and the sequel is being transferred and transferred. Many games are still "alive" only because they are played by fans.

Let's take a closer look at this today.

What Changes to Expect From Blizzard:

Microsoft has stated that some Activision Blizzard content will come to Game Pass, although they plan to support it on other platforms. If we talk about management: Bobby Kotick will continue to work as a general detector, albeit under the leadership of Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming.

This is rather strange because such a decision could adversely affect the work of both companies. All because of an unpleasant incident with Kotik, more precisely, because of his accusation of sexual harassment inside Activision Blizzard.

More than two thousand employees of the company signed a petition calling for his resignation after that. The Wall Street Journal reports that he will leave the corporation in mid-2023, when the deal expires.

By the way, because of this scandal, the company lived through a decrease in capitalization (2021). But that's another conversation.

As Kotik himself states, the next step should be to combine VR and AR technologies that are used in the real and virtual world and connect them together. This unification should happen between Activision Blizzard projects, which will allow them to interact within their own metaverse.

The directions of VR and AR are now quite well known and in demand, which means that this decision can be considered successful in advance.

Consider the cooperation of Microsoft with other well-known companies (Sony, for example), we can say that them cooperation together can both improve sales and worsen their performance.

If there is no agreement between them, Sony may lose a large number of potential customers, losing the ability to install the latest games on its console. However, there is no need to worry yet.

Mobile Games, the Impact of This Situation on Them:

Almost every person now has a smartphone, Internet access, and access to both offline and online games, which is very convenient for gaming companies. And this means that we should expect the strengthening of the positions of these same games in the market and among mobile applications.

If only because many of them are generated for mobile devices, for consoles, and for computers. It's good for companies, isn't it? It's like an ICOholder, where news is not about one cryptocurrency, but about all possible ones at once and on one site.

The expansion always brings more engagement, and, accordingly, more customers. They trust and use with pleasure, leaving positive feedback, which is good.

Against the backdrop of the development of the gaming industry, it is also possible to cooperate with advanced Chinese companies that adapt to each other and bring even more profit to both parties.

What About the Approval of the Deal?

A mandatory procedure before the transaction is its approval by the US anti-monopoly authorities. If it does not take place, Microsoft will have to pay 3 billion dollars to Blizzard - "compensation" money.

And since the probability of this is small, it is already possible to wait in anticipation for new products from the company.

What Is Microsoft Counting On?

Perhaps this move will allow Microsoft to expand the company's gaming industry, as it did with the well-known and popular game Minecraft, which they bought 8 years ago for $2.5 billion.

There is one more option. Of course, it can be taken in different ways, as right and wrong, but still it is this: by buying Activision, Microsoft will receive some advantage in terms of using the metaverse.

Recently, this topic has been very relevant, and all kinds of brands are interested in it (and not only gaming, but also brands of clothing, shoes, and so on).

The games purchased by the company will fit perfectly into the digital universe, in which there is simply an unimaginable number of possibilities.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, expressed her intentions regarding this issue: "Video games are very dynamic and interesting now on all platforms, and they can serve the development of the metaverse, its platforms..."

By the way, this seems to be beneficial not only for Microsoft, but also for Meta. How? If deals like this happen, Meta will be able to justify its expansions.

Conclusion:

Therefore, we can say that Blizzard would be nice to try something new. Perhaps this can help increase their profits, thereby improving their financial situation. This can attract more people to the company, introduce them to quality products. This decision can be beneficial for both parties.

It depends only on them whether it will bring them profit or if it will turn out to be a failure. According to Kotik, the possibility of creating a metaverse, as well as the implementation of plans with Microsoft, will become possible.

It will be especially easier to achieve what you want with the help of artificial intelligence, numerous analyzes, machine learning, and cloud computing.

In general, you should expect the unusual from a well-known company. The development of the games industry in the metaverse will not be long in coming. The future is already today, so it’s even hard for us to imagine what awaits us in a couple of years.

Remember yourself a few years ago; did you think that you would be reading something like this? Nothing stands still. So, you can draw your own conclusions.