According to a new document from the United Kingdom government, Microsoft tried to purchase a mobile game publisher prior to attempting to buy Activision Blizzard. The document is heavily redacted, however, so we may never know the company in question or the timeline for when Microsoft was pursuing this mysterious deal.
The UK’s Competition & Markets Authority said in its final report (via VGC) about Microsoft’s deal to buy Activision Blizzard that Microsoft tried to buy a mobile game publisher as part of its effort to get a foothold in the mobile games space. The document says Microsoft “attempted to buy [REDACTED] in [REDACTED] and said [REDACTED].”
The redactions are frustrating, but they are not out of the ordinary. Companies like Microsoft are allowed to keep certain information private in business deals like this.
Another document in the CMA case, dating back to December 2022, revealed Halo Infinite’s budget and development timeline, but those crucial details were redacted.
Microsoft wants to buy Activision Blizzard in part to get into the mobile gaming space, a sector of the gaming market that it doesn’t have much business in, relatively, right now. Activision Blizzard does a huge business in mobile–in fact, for the past three months, mobile was Activision Blizzard’s biggest platform by revenue, beating out console and PC.
Given that mobile is Activision Blizzard’s biggest platform by revenue, it makes sense that the company is bringing every single one of its franchises to mobile.
Microsoft has said it wants to launch an Xbox mobile store in 2024, though whether or not those plans may be disrupted due to the CMA’s decision are unknown.
2023 has already seen a couple major mobile game company buyouts. Grand Theft Auto parent company Take-Two purchased Zynga at the start of 2023 for $12.7 billion. That remains by far the largest video game acquisition of all time based on purchase price. But Microsoft’s $68.7 billion bid for Activision Blizzard would surpass that many times over if the deal goes through.
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