Activision Blizzard
Activision Hit With $100M Lawsuit From Pro Gamers Over Claims It Monopolized ‘Call of Duty’ Tournaments
Activision Blizzard is facing a lawsuit accusing it of monopolizing the market for Call of Duty leagues and tournaments. Professional gamers Hector “H3cz” Rodriguez and Seth “Scump” Abner, in a lawsuit filed on Thursday in California federal court, allege that the gaming giant violates antitrust laws by preventing “would-be competitors from entering the market” and […]
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Microsoft Lays Off 1,900 Employees After Acquiring Activision Blizzard
Microsoft has laid off around 1,900 employees at Activision Blizzard and Xbox after the software and technology giant recently acquired the Call of Duty and Diablo video game publisher, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Microsoft closed the $68.7 billion deal for Activision Blizzard in October 2023, and has now shed around 8 percent of the […]
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Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Plans to Depart Company on Dec. 29
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is stepping down from his role on Dec. 29, as the company further integrates into Microsoft. Microsoft closed its $68.7 billion acquisition of the video game publisher in October, after overcoming several regulatory hurdles. The acquisition creates a gaming powerhouse by bringing together Microsoft, which owns the Xbox game platform […]
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Activision Blizzard Reaches $54.8M Settlement to Resolve Pay Disparity, Discrimination Claims
Activision Blizzard has reached an approximately $55 million settlement with California’s Civil Rights Department to resolve pay disparity and discrimination claims, the agency announced on Friday. The gaming giant behind Call of Duty and World of Warcraft had been accused of discriminating against women denying them promotion opportunities and paying them less than men for doing […]
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Xbox Sales Drop But Microsoft’s Gaming Division Grows in Revenue
Microsoft’s Xbox sales declined by 7 percent, while the gaming system’s content and services grew 13 percent in revenue, the company said on Tuesday as part of its earnings report. Total revenue for the gaming division grew 8 percent for the latest financial quarter, which follows the tech company becoming a video games powerhouse by […]
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Microsoft Closes $69B Acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Creating Video Game Powerhouse
Software and technology giant Microsoft has reached the end of a long and rocky road, closing its $68.7 billion acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard, led by CEO Bobby Kotick, on Friday, 21 months after it had unveiled the mega-deal. Activision unveiled the close of the transaction in a regulatory filing early on Friday. […]
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U.K. Regulator Finally Clears Microsoft to Complete $69B Activision Blizzard Deal
Microsoft’s planned, but protracted $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard can be completed after the U.K. competition regulator finally approved the deal on Friday. The software giant made the bid for the video game developer behind Call of Duty, Guitar Hero and Overwatch in January 2022, but the U.K.’s Competition Markets Authority (CMA) blocked the […]
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Microsoft to Sell Activision Cloud Gaming Rights in Push to Greenlight Deal
Microsoft has proposed divesting from Activision Blizzard’s cloud streaming rights in a bid to secure approval of the $69 billion deal from U.K. competition regulators. Under the agreement, Microsoft will not be able to exclusively release popular Activision titles like Call of Duty, Diablo or Overwatch on Xbox cloud gaming or control the terms of […]
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How Blizzard’s Star-Studded Marketing Storm Drove ‘Diablo IV’ to a Sales Record
While Barbie turned the world pink in the lead up to its premiere, another major entertainment brand was leaning into the dark side of culture for its marketing campaign — and it worked. In its first month, more than 10 million people spent more than 700 million hours playing Diablo IV — the latest installment […]
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Microsoft Extends $69B Activision Blizzard Merger Deal Deadline
Microsoft Corp. has extended its agreement for a $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard to Oct. 18, 2023, to surmount remaining regulatory hurdles to creating one of the largest video game developers worldwide. The original deal contract was set to expire on July 18. After negotiations, the merger deal deadline has been extended in return for […]
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FTC Appeals Microsoft-Activision Blizzard Antitrust Court Loss
The Federal Trade Commission has appealed a federal judge’s ruling turning down the agency’s bid to delay Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard, according to a court document filed on Wednesday. A temporary restraining order, which was granted before a weeklong mini trial to decide whether the FTC should be granted […]
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Microsoft Wins FTC Brawl Over $69B Activision Blizzard Deal as Merger Nears Close
Microsoft’s $69 billion bid to become a video game behemoth by buying Activision Blizzard is one step closer to being completed, with a federal judge refusing to block the deal. U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley on Tuesday denied the Federal Trade Commission’s bid for a preliminary injunction, finding Microsoft’s ownership of Activision won’t suppress […]
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