Talking Point: It's Been Two Years Since A Defining Moment In The History Of Xbox

Two years ago, we were spending so much time covering the Activision Blizzard acquisition here at Pure Xbox. It felt like something new was happening every day with it, especially when it started to be opposed from various angles.

The FTC was the big one. In the US, the Federal Trade Commission confirmed it would be looking into Xbox's takeover of the company back in February of 2022, but it wasn't until December that the FTC filed a lawsuit to try and block it - a decision that caused all sorts of turbulence at Microsoft and Activision Blizzard.

Just over six months later though, Xbox essentially won the fight - a judge denied the FTC's request for a preliminary injunction over the buyout, meaning it essentially couldn't be blocked from going through in the United States. This took place on July 11th, 2023 - so we're almost exactly two years since that date.

There was an appeal from the FTC soon afterwards, but ultimately it was in vain.

Whatever you think about the Activision Blizzard takeover and whether it was a good thing for Xbox or not, this feels like the defining moment where not only was the acquisition set in stone, but the future of the brand would change forever.

Not that we knew that entirely at the time. There were other hurdles to get over first - the big one being the UK CMA, which took a little longer to approve the deal - and perhaps some of us were a bit naive to the actual scale of this takeover as well. The Bethesda deal in 2020 was massive, but it didn't seem to coincide with a notable change in strategy. The Activision Blizzard deal, however, appeared to spark off a shift in priorities at both Xbox and Microsoft.

Two years on, we've since seen a bunch of Activision Blizzard games arrive on Xbox Game Pass, the likes of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 have launched as first-party titles, and there's a massive roadmap of releases set to arrive over the coming years. It's still early days for this acquisition and the jury's out about whether it was a "successful" purchase for Microsoft or not, but as we look ahead to the 25th anniversary of Xbox next year, it has to be up there as one of the biggest defining moments in the brand's history thus far.

What are your thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments below (and please keep it respectful!).