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Back before the Activision Blizzard and Microsoft merger was made public, Phil Spencer famously commented that his company would be "evaluating"✨ its relationship with the Cᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚall of Duty publisher. Of course, everyone interpreted this as a bad omen foඣr Activision Blizzard, with the implication being that they could expect fewer dealings with Microsoft in the future. Of course, we now know that it will be the exact opposite.
But as much as we joke about it now, it looks like Microsoft really did "evaluate" its relationship with the company that quickly. According to a report from , Microsoft reached out to Activision Blizzard about a possible acquisition just three days after 🔯CEO Bobby Kotick was implicated in his company's abuse ꦰallegations.
According to the report, Spencer and Kotick first spoke about the deal November 19, 2021. This would be days after the allegations about Kotick were made public, as well as the resurfacing of an incident in which Kotick threatened to "end" a woman over the phone. This would also be just a day 𒀰after Spencer 🌳told his own employees that he was "deeply troubled" over the allegations.
It appears that it was Spencer who played the active role in seeking acquisition negotiations, telling Kotick he would like to discuss "strategic opportunities" between the t❀wo companies the very next day. Following this, discussions continued for two months before the news was announced to the public.
While we can only speculate as to what this timeframe means in terms of Spencer's personal views on how to handle the abuse allegations, publicly at least, he has condemned similar behaviour. Before the merger was announced, he 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:reflected on Microsoft's own trouble🍃d past, such as its controversial GDC event. Organizers hired go-go dancers, who were exclusively women. Attendees who were left feeling uncomfortab⛎le over the unexpectedly sexualized party shared pictures on social media. On reflection, Spencer admitted 🧸this was a "painful moment in our history of Xbox".