After almost two years of fighting regulators, Microsoft finally completed its $69 billion merger with Activision Blizzard. Here are a few thoughts on the deal, in no particular order:
- GOOD? BAD? That Call of Duty/Halo crossover featuring Master Chief can finally happen
- GOOD: Activision CEO Bobby Kotick will be gone as of January 1, 2024
- BAD: After overseeing a toxic culture of sexual harassment, Kotick will get a $300 million+ golden parachute
- BAD: One of the biggest companies in the world (Microsoft) is now merged with another very big company (Activision Blizzard). I’m pretty sure this is another chapter in the dystopian future we are heading toward, where there are only three megacorporations on the entire planet. And Apple.
- GOOD: Microsoft will probably somehow squander the potential of this, making it seem not as big a deal in hindsight
- GOOD: I can check out Diablo 4 on Game Pass without “buying” it
- BAD: It won’t be out on Game Pass until 2024. And it still won’t be a good game.
- BAD: This probably means you won’t be able to ever uninstall future versions of Candy Crush from Windows 11
- BAD: World of Warcraft will probably now include a “funny” Clippy joke