Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is a milestone of capitalism. The technology company founded by Bill Gates, which has been one of the most important players in the world of video games for years, has acquired another that, although smaller, is comfortably among the 10 largest game companies in the world. Speaking in silver, it is as if Real Madrid bought Atlético. Or Barça, Valencia. The purchase culminates a series of moves by Microsoft, which has spent years acquiring smaller companies for prices much lower than the $68 billion it will spend for Activision.
With these purchases, Microsoft grows within the digital market, in addition to assuming a frontal attack on its direct competitor, the Japanese Sony. The most adult market for desktop consoles is shared between the two: the American with its Xbox, the Japanese with its Play Station. The third leg of digital entertainment in that market would be Nintendo, although it is more inclined to another audience.
Worldwide, and for many years, the battle had been on the side of Sony, but in June 2017 Microsoft altered the market with an invention that is gaining more and more followers: the XBox Game Pass. It is a kind of Netflix of video games, a monthly subscription that allows you to enjoy a huge catalog. It costs 12.99 euros per month, a bargain if we consider that the games it gave access to in 2021 would be worth a total of 6,000 euros, if we intended to buy them. Obviously Game Pass subscribers grow every day and after the acquisition of Activision it is not surprising that some of its most powerful sagas (Call of Duty, Devil, world of warcraft), end up adding to the monthly service. In 2020 Microsoft already acquired Bethesda for 7.5 billion dollars, and its most famous games became part of the digital catalog.
As big as the price Microsoft has paid, the truth is that if there was ever a time to make such a move, it is this: the workplace (and sexual) harassment scandals within Activision have undermined the company for a couple of years. years, they have put their directors on the target and have generated the rejection of a large part of the community. As an example, a few months ago the omnipotent world of warcraft lost the crown of most played online role-playing game in favor of final fantasy XIV. In other words, the figure is high, but it would have been much higher at another time.
Antitrust laws did not prevent Disney’s acquisition of Fox in 2019 for a similar amount, so the merger of Microsoft and Activision does not seem to present legal problems. Ethical debates, however, are different. As has already happened with the publishing world, as is already happening with the audiovisual world, the annexation of medium-sized companies is polarizing the market until it remains in the hands of a few, with the consequent homogenization that this implies for a business that, basically, it is cultural. This purchase will undoubtedly improve Microsoft’s position in its war with Sony. One wonders if it is good for such an explosively creative ecosystem, so eager to evolve formally and (for now) as rich and diverse as the world of video games.
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