Almost two years ago Microsoft announced that it intended to acquire one of the world’s biggest video game publishers, Activision Blizzard. The deal had to satisfy antitrust concerns in the USA and elsewhere in the world. As of October 13, 2023, the acquisition was finalized. This deal is not just about video games. We expect to see the Metaverse propelled by the Activision Blizzard acquisition. This could also provide a boost to cryptocurrencies.
What Is Activision Blizzard?
Activision Blizzard was a company with nearly $9 billion in yearly revenue at the end of 2021 before the Microsoft takeover was announced. Its assets included games like Candy Crush, Overwatch, StarCraft, Diablo, Warcraft, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, and Call of Duty. Millions of people play these games every day. It also produced movies and TV shows based on its video games via its Activision Blizzard Studios. Its focus was video games.
What Is Microsoft?
Microsoft is a company with more than $200 billion in annual revenue. It is the world’s biggest seller of computer software. It is a leader in cloud computing services, computer and gaming hardware, gaming software, and a host of online services. In the video game world, Microsoft sells its Xbox game consoles and creates video games via its Xbox Game Studies. They added both Bethesda Softworks and ZeniMax Media by acquisition before taking over Activision Blizzard.
Activision Blizzard Acquisition Not Just About Video Games
Microsoft is the most dominant maker of business software in the world. They are going to use the skillsets of the Activision Blizzard folks to enhance their business operations wherever that makes the best sense economically. This acquisition will certainly add to its video game business. However, it will also lead to more metaverse in the office according to Coin Telegraph. According to Microsoft CEO Nadella, this is their plan.
“We are building, quite frankly, metaverse applications if I could call them that. Or experiences in business applications, in productivity tools, and meetings and games – all three on a common platform.”
Microsoft makes software that facilitates communication and collaboration in business. In today’s interconnected world, this commonly means setting up ways for people on opposite sides of the world to share data, work routines, and whole projects. One can envision one person using the metaverse to explain and demonstrate use of a physical item without having to fly from Chicago to Delhi or Paris to Cape Town. The expertise of game developers at Activision Blizzard will in all likelihood be adapted to such software projects as well as to gaming.
How Could Activision Blizzard Acquisition Affect Crypto?
Blockchain gaming appears to be a crypto growth area. From the crypto point of view, one thing it is missing is a huge game developer to churn out new and exciting content. Microsoft, with its expanded stable of video games and developers may be coming to the rescue. As noted in an article in Decrypt, Crypto plans figure in what Microsoft intends to do in the Xbox world going forward. This comes from Federal Trade Commission documents used in its case where it tried to block Microsoft’s acquisition. Internal Microsoft documents indicate they plan to offer crypto wallet integration to gamers.
Multiplying the Potential for Crypto in Gaming
Roughly two billion people play video games while about two million play blockchain games. Blockchain gaming is currently where crypto has a role. About one hundred fifty million people play Microsoft games or Activision Blizzard games. That number is likely to expand as Microsoft pushes more game development. The addition of this group of players for potential crypto use tied to their gaming would result in a possible seventy-five fold increase in the use of crypto by gamers.
Metaverse Propelled By Activision Blizzard Acquisition – PDF
