Jason Schreier

And that was the point of contention for a very, very long time, because Blizzard was not able to speed up development of WoW expansions. Activision said, throw people at the problem, hire hundreds of people and make that work. Blizzard said, no, that doesn't work for us. And on and on the battle continued. And then the same sort of thing happened with Overwatch.

After that took off, Blizzard was trying to make a sequel. Activision was like, throw more people at the problem. Blizzard was like, no, we don't want to do that.

After that took off, Blizzard was trying to make a sequel. Activision was like, throw more people at the problem. Blizzard was like, no, we don't want to do that.

After that took off, Blizzard was trying to make a sequel. Activision was like, throw more people at the problem. Blizzard was like, no, we don't want to do that.

They certainly saw an opportunity to get Activision Blizzard at a discount, although it wasn't too much of a discount. I mean, $69 billion, it's pretty wild. It's one of the biggest acquisitions in Microsoft history, not the biggest. Yeah, and one of the biggest in business history, certainly the biggest in video game history. Yeah, I mean, it was pretty titanic.

They certainly saw an opportunity to get Activision Blizzard at a discount, although it wasn't too much of a discount. I mean, $69 billion, it's pretty wild. It's one of the biggest acquisitions in Microsoft history, not the biggest. Yeah, and one of the biggest in business history, certainly the biggest in video game history. Yeah, I mean, it was pretty titanic.

They certainly saw an opportunity to get Activision Blizzard at a discount, although it wasn't too much of a discount. I mean, $69 billion, it's pretty wild. It's one of the biggest acquisitions in Microsoft history, not the biggest. Yeah, and one of the biggest in business history, certainly the biggest in video game history. Yeah, I mean, it was pretty titanic.

I think Phil Spencer at Microsoft, he had spent a long years just gobbling up studios. They had bought Bethesda a few years earlier, another substantial big game publisher. For him, this was like a big coup to be like, we're going to get everything. We're going to be like Thanos with his Infinity Stones and gobble up the entire video game industry.

I think Phil Spencer at Microsoft, he had spent a long years just gobbling up studios. They had bought Bethesda a few years earlier, another substantial big game publisher. For him, this was like a big coup to be like, we're going to get everything. We're going to be like Thanos with his Infinity Stones and gobble up the entire video game industry.

I think Phil Spencer at Microsoft, he had spent a long years just gobbling up studios. They had bought Bethesda a few years earlier, another substantial big game publisher. For him, this was like a big coup to be like, we're going to get everything. We're going to be like Thanos with his Infinity Stones and gobble up the entire video game industry.

And I think he saw a moment of weakness at Activision and decided to jump in. And Bobby Kotick, after he got the call, he started calling other companies and was like, hey, would you guys outbid them? But nobody was interested. Only Xbox wanted to do it. This was also a time, end of 2021, beginning of 2022, when interest rates were incredibly low and borrowing money was cheap.

And I think he saw a moment of weakness at Activision and decided to jump in. And Bobby Kotick, after he got the call, he started calling other companies and was like, hey, would you guys outbid them? But nobody was interested. Only Xbox wanted to do it. This was also a time, end of 2021, beginning of 2022, when interest rates were incredibly low and borrowing money was cheap.

And I think he saw a moment of weakness at Activision and decided to jump in. And Bobby Kotick, after he got the call, he started calling other companies and was like, hey, would you guys outbid them? But nobody was interested. Only Xbox wanted to do it. This was also a time, end of 2021, beginning of 2022, when interest rates were incredibly low and borrowing money was cheap.

And the economic climate was much different than it was even a year later. So that also played a role in this whole thing.

And the economic climate was much different than it was even a year later. So that also played a role in this whole thing.

And the economic climate was much different than it was even a year later. So that also played a role in this whole thing.

The entire video game industry was just so short-sighted. It's pretty wild. They made this massive purchase. I think they saw an opportunity. Activision Blizzard's market cap had fallen pretty hard. I think they went from a high of like over $100 per share to something like 70, maybe even 65, at the point that they were ultimately purchased by Microsoft.

The entire video game industry was just so short-sighted. It's pretty wild. They made this massive purchase. I think they saw an opportunity. Activision Blizzard's market cap had fallen pretty hard. I think they went from a high of like over $100 per share to something like 70, maybe even 65, at the point that they were ultimately purchased by Microsoft.

The entire video game industry was just so short-sighted. It's pretty wild. They made this massive purchase. I think they saw an opportunity. Activision Blizzard's market cap had fallen pretty hard. I think they went from a high of like over $100 per share to something like 70, maybe even 65, at the point that they were ultimately purchased by Microsoft.

It seemed like a good move, I suppose, to Microsoft at the time, and to fit into their strategy of just looking around and saying, hey, we haven't been able to compete with these other big game companies by making games ourselves, so we're just going to gobble up everything and try to make games with other people's talent.