The interactive entertainment, or video game industry, began in the ’80s and grows exponentially each passing year- especially since the world shut down in 2020. Activision Blizzard, one of the largest of these companies, owning titles such as Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush, has recently been bought by Microsoft in a $68.7 billion deal.

     Microsoft is a multinational technology corporation that owns much of what is used daily on computer systems- Microsoft Office, including Word and PowerPoint, as well as Skype, Xbox, and the Windows operating system itself. They have recently been buying large video game companies and providing funding for their future projects. Such companies include Mojang (Minecraft), Bethesda (Elder Scrolls, Fallout, DOOM), and now, Activision Blizzard.

     The deal with Blizzard was a controversial one, considering the recent allegations and conflict the company has undergone in the past year. In July 2021, Blizzard was sued for promoting “frat-boy culture”, discriminating against women in pay and promotion. It was later revealed that there were allegations against certain individuals in the company, including the C.E.O. of the tech giant. Once the deal is closed, he will be stepping down, according to The New York Times. 

     Senior Ethan Shoemaker trusts that the deal will be benefiting both companies equally, as Activision has been struggling for the past few years in several areas. “The workplace conditions will improve under Microsoft’s control because of the recent hot water Activision went under,” he says. He also mentions Activision customer support being “notoriously difficult to deal with,” and is hopeful that will improve. Lastly, he is certain the quality of games will get better as well.

     Microsoft will largely benefit too, Shoemaker says, “They will be getting a good bit of money because of the big-name titles from PlayStation like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and so on.” 

     There are several goals in Microsoft’s purchase, one of which is making some of Blizzard’s games Xbox and PC exclusives. Microsoft, owning Xbox, also controls games that are released on Xbox Game Pass, a subscription service that allows unlimited user access to a catalog of selected games, reports technology magazine, How-To Geek.

     However, Shoemaker hopes that this is not the case, “it just wouldn’t be fair to PlayStation players that most of the games they enjoy playing will no longer be there,” he says. He also notes that it was previously announced by Microsoft that Call of Duty would not be exclusive, so some likely will be.