[Update #2]: It looks like Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard won't be going through after all.

[Update]: Blizzard has announced a new survival game set in a completely original universe.

In what is quite possibly the biggest acquisition in the gaming world, Microsoft has just purchased Activision Blizzard, all of their studios and IPs for a whopping ~69 billion dollars. In other words, Microsoft now has access to Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Spyro, Hearthstone, Crash Bandicoot, StarCraft, Candy Crush, and a whole bunch more.

"Until this transaction closes, Activision Blizzard and Microsoft Gaming will continue to operate independently," reads the announcement from Phil Spencer. "Once the deal is complete, the Activision Blizzard business will report to me as CEO, Microsoft Gaming."

"Upon close, we will offer as many Activision Blizzard games as we can within Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass, both new titles and games from Activision Blizzard’s incredible catalog. The fantastic franchises across Activision Blizzard will also accelerate our plans for Cloud Gaming, allowing more people in more places around the world to participate in the Xbox community using phones, tablets, laptops and other devices you already own."

Considering how much Activision Blizzard has fumbled the majority of their series over the past couple of years, I can't help but feel like Microsoft's touch will end up being a positive thing for everyone involved. With a bit of luck this will also put a stop to Blizzard's toxic work culture, and simultaneously make it so their flagship games like Overwatch don't go through multi-year content droughts due to poor planning.

Whatever the future may bring, it's certainly going to be interesting to watch how Activision Blizzard evolves over the coming years!