Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard deal: What you need to know

Microsoft wants to pay $69bn (£56bn) for Activision

Even for Microsoft – one of the richest companies in the world – such a huge deal has never been seen before. If it goes ahead it will be the biggest takeover of one company by another in the history of gaming.

It’ll get a lot for its money – including control of Call of Duty

It’s a lot of cash, but it would make Microsoft the owners of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch and Candy Crush, to name a few. Those are some of the world’s most popular video games, with millions of players who spend billions on subscriptions and in-game purchases.

Microsoft says it needs the deal to boost the Xbox

Sony’s PlayStation has been outselling Microsoft’s Xbox console for some time now. Microsoft says buying Activision would let it put more big titles on Game Pass – its Netflix-style subscription – and make more games for mobile phones, where there are big profits to be made.

But Sony’s not happy with the idea

Sony is worried that Microsoft could stop some big games from being on PlayStation. The latest instalment in the Call of Duty series – Modern Warfare 2 – made $1bn in its release weekend, and more than half of all copies sold in the UK were for PlayStation.

Governments worried about Microsoft having too much power and tried to stop the deal

The American government took Microsoft to court to delay the merger. It wanted to make sure Microsoft wouldn’t make it more expensive, harder or even impossible to play some games on consoles from other companies.

Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley wasn’t convinced merging the companies would harm customers. The EU and China are among countries to have already approved it and authorities in Britain who had stopped the deal now say they’re working with Microsoft to find a solution.

Microsoft says it doesn’t want to hurt anyone

Microsoft argues it would be stupid for it to suddenly stop selling hugely successful games series to millions of potential customers. It’s signed agreements with Sony and Nintendo promising that Call of Duty games will be available on their consoles if the deal goes through.

But it has already said it will make other games exclusive

In 2020 Microsoft forked out $7.5bn (£6.1bn) for Bethesda, the makers of huge games Fallout and Skyrim. It’s since said some of that company’s future games will be Xbox exclusives – and that’s made some worry it’ll do the same with Activision.