Gaming | July 30, 2023
Now that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard seems to be moving forward (with approval from Europe, denial of the US block, and open negotiation from the UK), it’s a good time to wonder what this multibillion-dollar merger could mean for Xbox’s catalog.
With the acquisition of Activision Blizzard and King, not only will these three companies join the Microsoft family, but also all their development studios currently working on various projects. Additionally, there are a good number of iconic franchises that will also become part of Xbox’s portfolio. Let’s go through all the names that could be associated with Microsoft if the acquisition goes ahead.
Let’s start with the licenses that Xbox will take over if the acquisition comes to fruition. Needless to say, the main one that has caused the most trouble in approving this purchase has been Call of Duty, but there are many more besides Activision’s hugely popular shooters. These are the main franchises held by the acquired company:
If that seems like few, consider that we’re only talking about the main ones: Activision also has a number of licenses that are currently not being exploited but could find new projects under the Xbox umbrella. We’re referring to franchises like Geometry Wars, True Crime, Gun, Prototype, Tenchu…
There’s more: Activision alone owns 3D Ultra Minigolf, Assault Heroes, Cabela’s, King’s Quest, Pitfall!, Space Quest, Blur, DJ Hero, Empire Earth, Gabriel Knight, Hexen, Interstate ’76, Laura Bow Mysteries, Phantasmagoria, Police Quest, Quest for Glory, Singularity, Soldier of Fortune, TimeShift, and Zork. Blizzard has RPM Racing, The Lost Vikings, and Rock n’ Roll Racing, and King has the Saga series (Pet Rescue Saga, Farm Heroes Saga, Diamond Diaries Saga) and Knighthood.
If the package of video game franchises that Microsoft will acquire is already impressive, even more so is the number of studios and personnel that will join the ranks of Xbox: over 10,000 employees from around the world will become part of Microsoft’s video game company, including sectors such as esports (since the agreement includes Major League Gaming) and Activision’s publishing branch.
But solely concerning development studios, the acquisition of Activision Blizzard and King means that Xbox is going to grow with the incorporation of all these developers:
Blizzard has nine studios spread worldwide, including Vicarious Visions, who developed Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 and Diablo 2: Resurrected. The company is divided into five major teams. Team 1 focuses on Starcraft, Heroes of the Storm, and remasters; Team 2 creates content for World of Warcraft; Team 3 works on the Diablo series (including Diablo 4 and Diablo Immortal); Team 4 is dedicated to Overwatch 2; and Team 5 handles smaller and experimental titles such as Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.
King consists of 11 globally located studios specializing in free-to-play games with microtransactions for mobile devices. The company’s biggest success is Candy Crush Saga, but between 2011 and 2021, they have released 25 games, some of them hyper-casual puzzles, others belonging to the strategy genre, and even RPGs, as well as several licensed games like Crash Bandicoot: On the Run!.
