Activision News Articles
Friday19th May 2023
News In The Latest Xbox ActiBlizz Twist, China Reportedly Approves Microsoft's Acquisition
Capitalism W?
While Microsoft looks like it has a fight on its hands with the UK CMA — and potentially the US FTC — over its Activision Blizzard acquisition, in a new twist today - China has reportedly approved the deal. According to the financial analysts over at
News 2K Seems To Be Totally In Favour Of Xbox Acquiring Activision Blizzard
It could be a slam dunk
Earlier this week, 2K parent company Take-Two released its latest financial report, and a batch of related Q&As have led to some interesting Xbox tidbits. We already reported on the company's CEO saying we're "probably" going to see mid-gen console upgrades, and the 2K boss also discussed Microsoft's ongoing acquisition...
Thursday18th May 2023
News UK CMA Encouraged To Promote 'Economic Growth' Despite Reservations Over ActiBlizz Deal
It's all getting rather political isn't it
Since the CMA decided to try and block Xbox's Activision Blizzard deal in the UK, we've been left a little unsure as to where the whole saga will go next. The EU has now approved the deal which at least paints a slightly rosier picture for Microsoft, but here in the UK and over in the U.S. it all seems up...
Tuesday16th May 2023
News Microsoft CEO Raises Eyebrows With Comment About UK & Activision Blizzard
"Let's wait for it all to play out"
Microsoft boss Satya Nadella has been getting a lot of attention over the past few hours courtesy of an interview he recently conducted with CNBC, in which he addressed Microsoft's attempted takeover of Activision Blizzard. In the interview, which was recorded prior to the European C
News UK MPs Question Why The CMA Blocked Xbox's ActiBlizz Deal Following EU Approval
The CMA says the EU is "fully entitled to reach that view"
Yesterday brought the latest twist in the Xbox Activision Blizzard tale when the European Commission officially approved Microsoft's attempted merger. They now join a fairly extensive list of regions that are in favour of the deal going ahead, however, as is seemingly becoming the norm in...
Deals Xbox Is Hosting A Huge Backwards Compatibility Sale This Week (May 16-23)
A large selection of Xbox classics
Microsoft has delivered a huge batch of Xbox sales this week, with over 700 titles currently discounted across a bunch of different promotions on the Xbox Store. We're definitely interested in a lot of these! <related ids="149484"> Typically, these sales roundups also include a small-ish selection of...
Monday15th May 2023
News EU Makes Microsoft 'Automatically License' ActiBlizz Cloud Games Post-Merger
"This will apply globally", says Microsoft's president
Following today's news of the EU approval over the Xbox Activision Blizzard merger, Microsoft president Brad Smith has quickly made a follow-up statement that makes for interesting reading. While we knew of lots of individual cloud gaming deals that the Xbox owner struck with various companies...
News COD Going Xbox Exclusive 'Would Not Significantly Harm Competition', Says EU
The European Commission weighs in
Well, Xbox's huge Activision Blizzard deal has been officially approved in the EU! The region is happy with the concessions Microsoft has made in regards to cloud gaming, and going off some of the statements in its new report, the European Commission wa
News Xbox's Activision Blizzard Deal Officially Approved In Europe
A major step forward
Microsoft's attempted acquisition of Activision Blizzard has taken a huge step forward today, as the European Commission has voted to approve the deal, leaving just the UK CMA and U.S. FTC as the major roadblocks right now. In a
Friday12th May 2023
News Xbox & Activision Among Long List Of Devs Involved With Summer Game Fest 2023
Geoff reveals the lineup
With the cancellation of E3 this year, Geoff Keighley's Summer Game Fest essentially takes over as the main gaming event for the season. With less than a month to go until The Game Awards host delivers the show, a pretty long list of partnered game companies have been announced. There are some huge names in this list,...
News UK CMA Places Further Restrictions On Microsoft And Activision Blizzard
Clamping down
There's been a slight update in Microsoft's attempted acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with the UK's Competition and Markets Authority now restricting the tech and video game giants from "acquiring an interest" in each other. As explained by the BBC, a recent interim order reveals the two parties would need "prior written consent"...
Thursday11th May 2023
News Call Of Duty 2023 Reveal Reportedly Coming In August, Zombies Mode To Feature At Launch
Update: The game is reportedly 'Modern Warfare III'
[Update - Thurs 7pm]: The same source at Insider Gaming is now reporting that Call of Duty 2023 will indeed be titled 'Modern Warfare III' - a direct sequel to 2022's Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. This year's game will reportedly contain "campaign, multiplayer, zombies, and a new Warzone 2 map...
Wednesday10th May 2023
Report Activision Blizzard Hires Royal Family-Level Lawyer To Fight UK CMA
He represented the Queen at one point!
Things are seemingly getting pretty serious when it comes to Xbox's squabble with the UK CMA over its Activision Blizzard deal! According to law analyst Florian Mueller (via Eurogamer), ActiBlizz has gone all the way to the top in hiring a lawyer to overturn
"We continue to be Microsoft's biggest partner"
EA held an earnings call for the period ending March 31, 2023 last night, and as part of CEO Andrew Wilson's comments, he talked a little bit about Microsoft's ongoing attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard. Basically, according to Wilson, the company is "indifferent" about whether Microsoft's...
Friday28th Apr 2023
News Ukraine The Latest Nation To Pass Xbox's Activision Blizzard Acquisition
Microsoft sees success in the region
It's not all doom and gloom for Microsoft when it comes to the ongoing ActiBlizz deal! The Ukrainian government has announced this week that it is happy for Xbox's acquisition of the company to go ahead. Yep, despite hitting a major stumbling block here in the UK, the Eastern European nation seems satisfied with...
News Microsoft Signs New 10-Year Deal Despite UK ActiBlizz Verdict
"We are full speed ahead in our mission"
This week brought earth shattering Xbox news, when the UK CMA decided to block Microsoft's huge purchase of Activision Blizzard. The Xbox owner is already committed to appealing the decision though, and now, it's made another move to suggest that this deal is far from over. This morning, Microsoft has...
Wednesday26th Apr 2023
News Microsoft Will Appeal UK Decision To Block Activision Blizzard Purchase
"We remain fully committed to this acquisition"
In case you missed the megaton news earlier on, the UK Competition and Markets Authority has officially blocked Xbox's Activision Blizzard deal. We definitely weren't expecting that decision, but it seems that Microsoft is already prepared for what comes next. In an official statement from company...
Wednesday19th Apr 2023
News Microsoft Reportedly Invited To 'Showcase Its Products' At UK's 10 Downing St Next Week
At the same time the CMA delivers its verdict on ActiBlizz
Microsoft's protracted showdown with the UK Competition and Markets Authority is about to end after months of back and forth over Xbox getting its ActiBlizz deal closed. The CMA's investigation will be all wrapped up by next Wednesday, April 26, and it seems like Microsoft might be booking...
Friday14th Apr 2023
News Microsoft Is Starting To Advertise Its ActiBlizz Acquisition On Billboards In London
Call of tubey
Early last month, Microsoft increased its efforts to convince the UK that its Activision Blizzard deal would be a good one for gaming, when full-page ads started cropping up in newspapers. Well, those same ads (or very similar ones) have now been converted into digital billboards as the Xbox owner continues to push for positivity...
Tuesday11th Apr 2023
News Xbox Signs Yet Another 10-Year ActiBlizz Deal, This Time With UK Mobile Network
Kevin Bacon approves
As approval processes continue for Xbox's huge Activision Blizzard acquisition, Microsoft has signed another 10-year agreement in relation to its cloud gaming endeavours. This time, the Xbox owner has entered into a deal with UK internet and mobile phone provider EE. As expected, the agreement is focused on bringing Activision...
Wednesday29th Mar 2023
News Activision Won't Allow Sony's 'Disappointing Behaviour' To Impact Long Term Relations
Bobby Kotick says they're doing it for the players
The ongoing battle between Microsoft and Sony has been a long and difficult process with Activision Blizzard essentially caught in the crossfire. It's notably stalled Activision's own plans, and has evidently taken its toll on some of the company's key figures (with Sony refusing to sign the Call...
Friday24th Mar 2023
News Activision Blizzard Warns Of 'Unprecedented Queue Times' For The Diablo 4 Open Beta
"Please be patient with us"
Diablo 4's Xbox open beta kicks off later today and will be live over the course of the weekend, however Activision and Blizzard aren't expecting it to be plain sailing throughout. The teams are warning players of "unprecedented traffic and queue times" once the beta moves from pre-order exclusivity to being fully open to...
Tuesday21st Mar 2023
News 'Crash Team Rumble' Hits Xbox This June, At An Attractive Price Point
Crash's upcoming online spinoff is almost ready!
Activision has officially revealed a proper release date for Crash Team Rumble! Developer Toys for Bob's upcoming Bandicoot spinoff launches June 20th on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, at a base price of $29.99. That version of the game is also supplemented by a Deluxe Edition at $39.99, bundling in...
Tuesday14th Mar 2023
News Microsoft Signs Another 10-Year Deal In Its Bid To Buy Activision Blizzard
"Players deserve more choice than they have now"
In a bid to further enhance Xbox's case for buying Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has confirmed another 10-year agreement has been put into place following similar deals with Nintendo and Nvidia. This time around,
Thursday9th Mar 2023
News Microsoft Is Running Full-Page Newspaper Ads About Call Of Duty On Xbox
"More games, for more players on more platforms"
We've seen that UK regulators have been some of the toughest to convince for Microsoft, so the company is going on the offensive to convince the nation that its Activision Blizzard deal will be good for gaming. As spotted by The Verg
News Sony Just Wants To 'Block' Merger, According To Activision Blizzard CCO
This is why "they keep refusing" the Call of Duty deal
Microsoft's battle with Sony has become quite public in recent months, and while a lot of it has come from official documentation, occasionally there have been some comments made on social media. The latest one comes from Activision Blizzard's Chief Communications Officer, Lulu Cheng Meservey,...
Wednesday8th Mar 2023
News Microsoft Says Xbox Game Pass Prices Won't Increase If ActiBlizz Deal Goes Through
"Any price increase would be counter-productive"
The UK CMA has posted another document relating to its ongoing Activision Blizzard investigation today, as Microsoft continues in its pursuit to acquire the Call of Duty publisher. This document goes over Xbox's response to making potential 'remedies' to suit all interested parties, and Xbox Game Pass...
Tuesday7th Mar 2023
Report Xbox Feels UK CMA Has 'Significantly' Overestimated The Impact Of COD Exclusivity
If it ever happened
The UK Competition and Markets Authority is one of the various regulatory bodies currently overseeing Xbox's Activision Blizzard deal, with the authority consistently hypothesising why the deal could, and possibly should, be blocked. One of those reasons is related to Call of Duty, with the CMA even suggesting that
Thursday2nd Mar 2023
News Microsoft Granted Access To Certain Sony Docs As FTC Continues To Scrutinise ActiBlizz Deal
Some access granted, some denied
Many of you have probably been following Xbox's ongoing Activision Blizzard negotiations, with Microsoft still trying to secure regulatory approval for its mammoth deal. As was perhaps expected, Sony has become one of Microsoft's biggest obstacles for the deal going ahead, and it looks like the PlayStation owner will...
Wednesday22nd Feb 2023
News Xbox Says It's Offering 'Better Deal' Than Sony's Current COD Contract, Which Expires In 2024
"It's a better deal for Sony than the one they have right now"
Microsoft has been very upfront about offering Sony 10 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation following Xbox's Activision Blizzard acquisition, an offer also extended to Nintendo this week. Even though the likes of Nintendo have now accepted the deal, the PlayStation owner is yet to accept...
