Maybe you once had the dream of acquiring a game company called Blizzard, making Anduin the greatest king, making Overwatch no longer just the day of assembly, making Diablo 4 and Star 3 fast-forward to release date, turning Hearthstone into a true 3D game, and even restarting the Fallen Titans program. Of course, we must not forget to let the storm heroes really catch fire.
Even if you haven't played Blizzard Family Bucket, you should have heard the name Blizzard Game, which was once the youth brand of countless post-80s and post-90s, from black Internet cafes to dormitories. Sara's exposure to online games was relatively short, and I didn't even really experience the warcraft era or stay in World of Warcraft for too long. But before I knew it, I had been playing their game for almost a decade, watching the company fall from a height.
Blizzard's production must be a masterpiece, has become a satire, the annual Blizzard Carnival no longer makes me look forward to. Sara wasn't blackened enough to want to witness its death, just curious how long the company could hold out. Endless internal scandals, frequent personnel changes that can be seen every month, various sequels that have been skipping tickets, transformation mobile games have not made progress, the last new IP is still the Overwatch in 2016, and the film and television universe has collapsed with the fiasco of the movie.
Regarding Blizzard, as long as you have liked them for a while, you will become a state of love and hate. Halfway through January 2022, Blizzard employees who went home for two weeks of shifts continued to punch in and grind, no major updates were released, and even Hearthstone's balance patch could be from the beginning of the month to the end of the month.
Sara once thought that the future of this company was like the backwater of the ladder environment, I updated the Overwatch to play a few games on the New Year's Day holiday, and then closed in the upper right corner in a daze, and I couldn't seem to find the happiness of that year.
On the evening of January 18, Blizzard finally brought a blockbuster news, parent company Activision Blizzard was officially acquired by Microsoft Games, and an era came to an end. The $68.7 billion acquisition made the deal the largest acquisition in Microsoft's history, and the LinkedIn paid $26 billion in 2016.
After the deal is completed, Microsoft will become the third largest gaming company after Tencent and Sony. Microsoft bought Activision Blizzard at a 45% premium to Friday's closing price, and they chose to bet on the white-bearded pirates before advancing the city chapter, but can this ship really reach the next era?
Microsoft has been investing a lot in gaming, and they've acquired a lot of game companies over the past few years, including $2.5 billion for Minecraft developers. Although the domestic hosting culture is not popular, XBOX is constantly updating and iterating, and introduces a variety of games, currently with 25 million subscribers.
Activision Blizzard's stock price has fallen more than 37 percent over the past year, and perhaps Microsoft thinks it's the best time to buy, even if the company is still saddled with allegations of sexual harassment. Activision Blizzard is not only the Blizzard we are familiar with, but also the super profitable content of COD, and the XBOX game library has been enriched. After this news came out, Activision Blizzard's stock price naturally soared all the way, and Microsoft's entry timing was well chosen.
Although there are more and more independent game studios, the trend in recent years has been integration, with large companies constantly acquiring small companies to further expand their brands and integrate existing resources. In the official press release, Microsoft did not parachute management to take over Activision Blizzard, they still let the previous personnel manage themselves, and perhaps the follow-up will slowly replace the personnel.
For Blizzard fans, it is just that the parent company changed from Activision Blizzard to Microsoft, and the original intention of Northern Blizzard has long disappeared in the river of time with the departure of the elders and the challenges of the commercial era.
After Microsoft acquired Blizzard, we don't have any clues as to whether it can bring a new way out for this brand. Because the transaction still needs to wait for the completion of regulatory review and the approval of Activision Blizzard's shareholders, the transaction will not be completed until 2023, after all, Activision Blizzard's financial structure is very complex, and foreign media forecasts may take about a year and a half. Whether the game's operations and R&D plans before that will cause waves due to acquisitions is still unknown.
Microsoft and Blizzard may announce external plans in the coming months, including the company's structure and game development adjustments, Sara only wants to know if Overwatch 2 can be released this year. It is worth mentioning that Activision Blizzard is directly reporting to microsoft game executives, and their status as a subsidiary is still quite high, and the XBOX game division is on an equal footing.
Microsoft games for domestic players, is still a relatively unfamiliar thing, after the spin-off from Microsoft in 2000, it is focused on the development of XBOX and PC games, but Sara has only been exposed to Age of Empires 4 in recent years, I am not a fan of Halo and Forza Motorsport. Microsoft's game development capabilities are insufficient, and it has always relied on acquisitions and investments to expand its game library, and the quantity and quality of exclusive 3A are not guaranteed.
As we all know, AAA games have never become mainstream in China, online games and e-sports games have become dominant, and now mobile games have brought a huge impact. Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard is more to consolidate the position of the PC side and bring some big IP to the host platform, but the impact of this reform on Chinese players should be very small.
At present, Microsoft Games does not focus on the construction of the Chinese department, Blizzard Family Barrel may still enter the country in the form of NetEase agents, and the operation of e-sports events will not change. However, we should see more Microsoft and Blizzard linkage later, and cross-IP linkage is now a very common thing.
We don't see the impact of this acquisition in the short term, but Sara really hopes that Blizzard will not become a second Nokia, I was a big fan of Nokia at the time, WP7 was supported when it first came out, and then witnessed the death of Nokia and WP system, Blizzard should not go that far. It makes me happy to see those familiar IPs and characters that will continue for years and even decades to come, even if the follow-up adult series is also supported.
For Blizzard, this is a turning point in history, after all, before the company's stock price deteriorated, I once thought that the top level should exhaust the fishing set, and now with Microsoft, the new owner of money, a lot of IP in hand can increase development efforts, sara can basically foresee the arrival of Interstellar 3.