3 reasons why Microsoft buying Activision is a big deal (besides the dollar amount)

Microsoft on Tuesday announced the largest acquisition in the history of the video game industry, a $68.7 billion, all-cash deal for Activision Blizzard. If regulators and shareholders give it the thumbs-up, the deal gives the manufacturer of the Xbox Series X and S consoles the keys to Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Candy Crush and many more of the world's most popular games.

Here are three reasons why this matters to gamers:

1. Microsoft's empire gets bigger.

Activision Blizzard now joins a company that, in 2021, acquired game publisher ZeniMax Media, whose studios include Bethesda (Fallout) and id Software (Doom). Microsoft's own video game publishing banner, Xbox Game Studios, includes 15 development houses with popular franchises on their resumes. Those include Mojang (Minecraft), 343 Industries (Halo, exclusive to Xbox consoles and Microsoft Windows), Rare (Sea of Thieves, exclusive), Double Fine (Psychonauts 2), The Coalition (Gears of War, exclusive) and Ninja Theory (Devil May Cry).

That's a large number of companies and intellectual properties under one big, digital umbrella. Is it so large that we can use the dreaded “M” word? Not quite yet, but it sure seems like all of entertainment is trending toward monopoly, doesn't it?

2. Microsoft fires a salvo in the console war.

Sony won the previous console generation handily, with the PlayStation 4 outselling the Xbox One by more than double. Sony Interactive Entertainment's website reports more than 116.6 million PS4s had been sold worldwide as of Sept. 30, 2021. Microsoft stopped reporting console sales in 2015, but a 2020 estimate by Ampere Analysis put the Xbox One model sales at 51 million units.

But acquiring Activision Blizzard's popular multiplayer games - and subsequently making them available immediately on Xbox's Game Pass subscription service, which lets players pay a monthly fee for access to dozens of titles without buying them individually - could help swing the pendulum toward Microsoft, especially as Sony's manufacturing speed struggles to meet demand for the PlayStation 5.

(An interesting side note: Bloomberg reported last week that Sony will continue making the last-gen PS4 consoles for the rest of 2022 as the microchips needed for the more advanced PS5 remain scarce. Meanwhile, Microsoft has halted production of the Xbox One to focus solely on getting more Xbox Series X/S consoles on the market.)

Would Microsoft dare make juggernaut titles like Call of Duty and Overwatch exclusive to its platforms, forcing die-hard Sony fans to switch? That's highly unlikely; there's just too much money to be made, and the risk of losing customers altogether is too high.

3. Sony will definitely respond.

Thanks to Jason Schreier at Bloomberg, we already know that Sony is planning to launch its own version of Xbox's Game Pass later this year, a service code-named Spartacus that would basically marry and enhance their two existing subscription services, PlayStation Plus (online multiplayer access and two to three free games every month) and PlayStation Now (streaming game library). But that might not be enough to stave off Microsoft, especially if they lower the price of their consoles first.

Another strategy Sony could borrow from Microsoft is offering a monthly payment plan that bundles the console and the subscription service together; Xbox All Access (with Citizens Bank) does just that for qualifying customers, starting at $24.99 a month for 24 months. And of course Sony could make a play for a major game developer, or get acquired by an even bigger company - just how badly do Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook want to get into the gaming market?

The most exciting responses would be those we haven't yet dreamed up. Video gaming is all about innovation, after all. Let's see what you got, Sony.

Sean Stangland is an assistant news editor who owns a PlayStation 5 and an Xbox 360.