In a completely unexpected article released today by Phil Spencer over on Xbox Wire, it was announced that the company has added more to their line up of studios with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Under the Activision Blizzard banner, also comes Treyarch, Raven, High Moon, Beenox, SledgeHammer Games, Infinity Ward, demonware, and Toys for Bob. With these companies, comes a myriad of amazing games from World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, StarCraft, the Call of Duty franchise, I could sit here listing all the games that these had their hands in but that is one for a Wiki article, not some small report like this one.
Phil stated that “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.” Which I cannot wait for! The more games that I can access through GamePass the better! Fingers crossed that WoW membership is absorbed into the Ultimate charge??? One can dream!
“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. Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward.” With the inclusion here of “other devices you already own” this could hint towards these companies still making gaming content for the Playstation. This would be amazing if true as there are many fans across the multiple platforms that would be at a loss. I shudder to think what would happen if Call of Duty became a first party title. The outrage… Anyway…
This acquisition comes at a time of great (well placed) scrutiny directed at the higher ups in Activision Blizzard. Anyone who has been keep an ear to media entertainment has heard of the many reports coming from Activision Blizzard employees from sexual harassment to workplace misconduct. There is a lot to go over on this but thing to take away, it was horrible, messy, and not right for anyone to have to go through what the victims had to. This is also a really long story, and I am not a journalist, so I will link you to a great article on this here from Kotaku.
Phil went onto say in the main article “As a company, Microsoft is committed to our journey for inclusion in every aspect of gaming, among both employees and players. We deeply value individual studio cultures. We also believe that creative success and autonomy go hand-in-hand with treating every person with dignity and respect. We hold all teams, and all leaders, to this commitment. We’re looking forward to extending our culture of proactive inclusion to the great teams across Activision Blizzard.” Indicating that these practices will no longer slide under Xbox’s rule and this is very much for the better of everyone!
This is amazing news for PC and Xbox fans across the board as the addition of these to the already amazing Xbox ecosystem is only for the better as a gamer. For the employees of these companies, I only hope the necessary changes are made in their favour to better the working environment for all!
Take care of yourselves!
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