The transaction announced by Microsoft includes the teams of Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, Beenox, Demonware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys for Bob, Treyarch and all Activision Blizzard teams. This means titles like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Hearthstone, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Guitar Hero, Candy Crush Saga will now be in the Xbox portfolio.
In addition, ATVI also operates the film production subsidiary Activision Blizzard Studios and the esports organization Major League Gaming (MLG).
What business value do these titles have?
Every big game company has its long-running franchise: for EA it’s FIFA, for Ubisoft it’s Assassin’s Creed, and for Activision it’s Call of Duty. And to put numbers to this title, in 2020 it was ranked among the highest grossing premium games for PC and consoles and as of April 2021, the Call of Duty series has sold more than 400 million units and the Battle Royale launch players free Call of Duty: Warzone reached 100 million users.