We often think of publishers like Ubisoft, EA, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Activision Blizzard as these monolithic companies of vast wealth and resources, but compared to the likes of Microsoft, Google, or Meta, they’re all small potatoes. Only one of the big players like 168𝐆澳洲幸运5开奖网:Microsoft is large enough to acquire Activision, although apparently there was at least some thought given to a more meager merger with EA.
In an interview with , Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotic🎃k hinted that EA was considered as a potential partner before yesterday’s Microsoft announcement, but 🌊ultimately it was just too small to buy the Call of Duty maker.
"You’d think, oh, we’re this big company and have just these great resources," Kotick said. "But when you’re comparing us to, you know, $2 trillion companies and $3 trillion companies and trillio🃏n-dollar companies and $500 billion companies, you realize, we may have been a big company in video gaming, but now, when you look at the landscape of who the competitors are, it’s a different world today than ever before.
"But I think that even if we were to have consolidated within EA, that wouldn’🌄t have given us what we’re going ▨to need going forward. And so you needed to have a big partner in order to be able to make it work."
Just to compare relative sizes, EA has a market cap valu♈ed at around $40 billion, while Activision Blizzard is aroun꧂d $64 billion. Microsoft, on the other hand, is valued at $2.3 trillion.
In the same interview, Kotick denied that the merger is about getting away from the scandals that have rocked Activision Blizzard since last summer. Instead, it's about gaining access to Microsoft's technology.
“We need them in disciplines like AI and machine learning, or in data analy🔜tics, or in purpose-built cloud and cybersecurity," he said, "and that we just don’t have."
Activision Blizzard has been mired in controversy ever since the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:California DF𒈔EH filed suit against the company for its toxic work culture. An expose from the Wall Street Journal 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:directly implicated Kotick for ignoring reports of abuse and harassment, alleg💎edly contributing to those reports by threatening to have a female employee killed.
In an effort to stop headlines from damaging Activision Blizzard's stock price further, Kotick even allegedly 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:suggested𒈔 purchasing a games publication to start running more positive stories. 168澳洲幸运5开奖🌟网:Kotick is widely expected to step down after the Microsoft🦂 acq📖uisition clears regulatory hurdles.