Cognition Dissemination: What to Expect from Microsoft Activision Blizzard

It became clear over the last week that whatever hurdles that stood in the way of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard were being cleared, though their footing was never strong to begin with. A federal judge rejected a bid from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to block the merger in time for the deadline, with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejecting their appeal. The United States Supreme Court just yesterday rejected a separate Hail Mary appeal from a group of gamers that lacked grace. There was always little chance of this merger being scuttled with how friendly to corporations most of the judiciary and watchdog groups around the world are. This is happening.

There are fortunate signs that the merger won’t be as bad as the biggest skeptics expected, at least initially. Microsoft and Activision Blizzard announced after largely winning the case, on a Sunday morning, that a deal was made with Sony to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms for the next ten years. This deal was previously pitched as the merger was still being scrutinized several months ago, but Sony had had little choice but to take it now. A similar deal was made for Nintendo platforms, which haven’t received a CoD game since Ghosts on Wii U nearly a decade ago in 2013. Perhaps the next Nintendo platform could receive the 2024 title, assuming Activision doesn’t feel it’s too late to give the Switch, a console in its seventh year, its first installment.

The offer works as a nice exchange of titles that could have potentially been console exclusives. Despite Sony’s purchase of Bungie and closure of the deal just over a year ago, the new Marathon game is still coming to Xbox Series consoles.

But what will lie beyond this? By keeping CoD multiplatform, Activision is essentially keeping their entire lineup on PlayStation too. Their studios don’t work on anything else these days. The last remaining non-CoD development assistant studios were Vicarious Visions and Toys for Bob, two studios subsumed into the virtual war machine after Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 and the recent Crash Team Rumble released from them, respectively. The name “Toys for Bob” was just too ironic to resist for Bobby Kotick, and also assign them to Activision’s cash cow. The Blizzard side will be busy supporting Overwatch 2 and Diablo IV for the foreseeable future.

The most interesting future moves from Activision Blizzard, and now Microsoft by extension, will lie with new franchises. It seems hard to believe that Activision would work on any new franchises with nearly all their development teams being on CoD, but it could happen under Microsoft. That’s easier to believe with Blizzard, and you can bet that Microsoft will want their next title for themselves as a console exclusive. It will take a while before anything new comes to fruition, however, considering how long video game development cycles are these days.

This could also occur with franchise revivals. For as much as I would have loved it if Sony was seeking to scuttle the merger on the power of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon, that wasn’t happening. The two franchises were previously exclusive to the PlayStation brand on PSOne, and Sony themselves now owns Naughty Dog and Insomniac, the studios which created their original installments. But Sony would only consider them valuable in an alternate universe these days, despite the newest Crash efforts receiving critical and fan acclaim, especially Crash Bandicoot 4. There’s reason to believe the next installments, should they be made, will be Xbox-exclusive titles on consoles. It’s the kind of fun potential twist of fate that only the video game industry can offer.

It’s difficult to think of what fate could befall Call of Duty in the distant future. Activision Blizzard will continue to adhere to the pattern of releasing one game a year, even when that new game is essentially an expansion to the prior title like the 2023 installment. But the industry could be in for a wild time when new games in the franchise suddenly stop releasing on consoles outside Xbox. There’s no telling what could happen in ten years — Xbox may no longer exist as a console brand by that point for all we know. But it will all be entertaining to watch unfold.

Now that Microsoft’s purchase of an already-large corporation will be completed, solidifying them as a megacorporation, new floodgates could open. The company could be within their rights to “spend Sony out of business,” as Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty was revealed to have said through emails disclosed in FTC v. Microsoft. It’s not likely to happen, and history has shown how throwing a bunch of money at initiatives is not enough to “win” the great and perpetual Console Wars of our time. But Microsoft could nonetheless be hungry for more.

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