Microsoft and Activision wowed the gaming world yesterday when the companies announced that Microsoft is purchasing Activision for nearly $70 billion. Among the many questions that gamers have about the deal is, why? Why would one of the biggest video game publishers in the world sell to Microsoft? And why would Microsoft pay $70 billion, 10x what it paid for Zenimax, for a company that is in trouble?
Well, in an interview with Venture Beat, Bobby Kotick answered a few of the questions that gamers have. When asked why Activision decided to sell Kotick is clear, money talks. Kotick said “When they originally called, we said we would we think about it, and then they made this offer that was incredibly attractive at 45% premium over the stock price. And I think it just made a lot of sense.” Of course, he also talks about how Microsoft would be the best partner for Activision. Although maybe anyone who offered 45% over the stock’s price would be a good partner.
When asked if the recent investigations into the company and stock crash were the reason for the sale, Kotick shifted the blame. He said the bigger factor in the falling stock price over the last year was actually the disappointing results of Overwatch, Diablo, and Call of Duty: Vanguard. “I think what affected the stock price more than that is pushing out Overwatch and Diablo. And then I think people started to see that this year’s Call of Duty wasn’t performing as well.”
Asked about antitrust issues, something that many people were concerned about when the news broke, Kotick didn’t seem concerned. “With Microsoft, most of the content they create has nothing to do with gaming. They’re on every device with a microprocessor and a display. And I think that they have no mobile business. So for them, King was a very complimentary thing. But we all realize that gaming over the next five years is going to be more on phones than on any other devices. And I think that they have given us repeated assurances that our content will be available on as many devices as possible.”
For the full interview (and there’s plenty more!) check out Venture Beat’s article at the source below.
