It’s game on for the US$69B acquisition of gaming firm Activision Blizzard — over a year since the announcement — after Microsoft won in court against the Federal Trade Commission over antitrust concerns. In response, Sony has signed a deal with Microsoft to keep Call of Duty, one of the most popular gaming franchise, on the PlayStation platform for ten years. Microsoft has also signed a similar deal with Nintendo to make Call of Duty available for the Switch.
The acquisition will be the largest deal in the gaming business. Besides Call of Duty, Activision Blizzard also has some of the biggest names in gaming, including Diablo, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush. And it will instantly make Microsoft the third-largest gaming company in the world, behind Tencent and Sony.
While Call of Duty games will not be Xbox exclusives for now, there’s no such guarantee for other Activision Blizzard games. In fact, critics can point to the upcoming Xbox exclusive Starfie…
