It was massive news when Microsoft revealed that they had put out a bid to acquire Activision Blizzard. Billions of dollars went into this purchase, and it was anything but easy. There were court cases and battles against the regulators to ensure that this deal would go through. Fortunately for Microsoft, the deal was finalized earlier this year. Since then, we’ve seen Microsoft go into a transitional phase to ensure production could continue while Microsoft took over the reins. Meanwhile, it was noted that Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard, would continue staying on until the upcoming year.
Today, thanks to a report from Game Informer, who credits The Verge, we’re seeing Bobby step away from being the CEO next week. It’s not all that early as, again, it was speculated that at the start of 2024, we would see Bobby leave the company. So, the former CEO will enjoy his holiday and not worry about stepping back into Activision Blizzard when the New Year comes in. Previously, the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, noted that Bobby would be around to ensure a smooth transition.
That seems to be over with, and this won’t be the only departure from Activision Blizzard. According to the report from The Verge, it seems a few executives will also leave the company. For instance, it’s noted that Humam Sakhnini, the vice chairman of Blizzard and King, will depart at the end of this month, with Activision Blizzard’s chief communications officer, Lulu Meservey, leaving at the end of January. This report goes on to state that other Activision Blizzard executives will be departing in March 2024.
Of course, 2024 should be a big year for Microsoft. We should see more additions added to Xbox Game Pass this coming year from the catalog of Activision Blizzard games. Likewise, after the acquisition from Microsoft, Bobby noted that we could see potential remakes from past IPs. With that said, it was reported that through the Insomniac Games leaks that emerged online, Sony is a bit more concerned with Microsoft now that they have control of Activision Blizzard. For now, we’ll just have to see what the future holds for Activision Blizzard titles and Microsoft as we go into the upcoming year. For now, we’re still waiting on Microsoft to put the line of Activision Blizzard games on the Xbox Game Pass subscription service.
