This huge deal makes the company that owns the Xbox platform the third largest gaming company in terms of revenue, and it also raises the competition in the electronic games market to the most intense, and some believe that it may be one of the deals that will determine the shape of the next period of consumer technology.
The all-cash purchase hit the video game world like a bomb. In one fell swoop, this deal qualifies Microsoft to be one of the largest manufacturers of interactive entertainment, facing the network of alliances and existing rivalries that make up the $200 billion global industry.
increased competition
E-marketing expert, Farid Khalil, said: This step has increased competition; Because Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard placed it in third place in the electronic games market via communication sites and mobile phones, after Tencent and Sony PlayStation.
Khalil added to “Sky News Arabia” that the revenues of this market reached in 2021 to 180 billion dollars, and it is expected to increase in 2025 to 220 billion dollars, with an annual increase of 10 billion; This is why Microsoft entered the competition strongly.
He pointed out that the Corona pandemic caused an increase in the demand for electronic games, especially in the policy of working from home, precautionary measures, and spending long times using mobile phones.
Activision will bring a large audience, which Microsoft benefits from, with a subscriber base of 400 million people per month.
strong start
And last year Microsoft got off to a strong start, growing its Game Pass service by nearly 30% to reach 25 million subscribers.
The video game specialist, Ali Al-Sayed, described the acquisition as a very big step on the financial level and the level of competition in video games, especially since Activision Blizzard was going through a difficult period in its relationship with its employees and the competition market, and its shares declined, but the matter changed after Microsoft acquired it .
Al-Sayed added to “Sky News Arabia”, that the gaming market is changing dramatically, not only because of deals, but because of other variables; These include players’ reactions to gaming content; This influences the direction of the studios.
At the same time, competitors focused on creating gaming platforms and networks. These include the virtual reality business, Oculus from Facebook, and the cloud gaming division, Stadia from Google, both of which represent a new distribution channel for games; And smartphone app stores from Apple and Google, and Amazon’s acquisition of the Twitch network for live broadcasting over the Internet.
merger results
Upon completion of the acquisition and merger, Microsoft is committed in the short term to expanding its reach into a wide range of gaming markets, making it a stronger competitor to the console offered by rival Sony and mobile gaming giant Tencent.
Piers Harding Rolls, games analyst at Amber Analysys, says that by bringing 30 game studios together under one roof, “the implications of this deal will send shock waves through the entire industry”.
In the words of Neil Campling, analyst at Mirabod Securities: “This is a new war over gaming content, similar to the war on Web 3.0.” But it is also likely to cause tough antitrust legislation.