Microsoft announced their intent to acquire Activision Blizzard back in January, in what is not just Microsoft's biggest purchase of all time, but actually the the biggest tech purchase ever. Period.
Paying almost $70 billion in cash is of course incredibly risky business, but one person who is really impressed by this decision is the former Nintendo of America boss Reggie Fils-Aime. He is known to be a good friend of Microsoft and even led an Xbox panel discussion during the Xbox 20th Anniversary. When he was promoting his new book 'Disrupting the Game' at South by Southwest 2022 this week, he shared his opinions on Microsoft's massive purchase:
"The purchase of Activision by Microsoft, I think that was a great distress buy, the stock price had a lost a third with all of the cultural issues that the company has had, it was a fantastic purchase of King, mobile games, Call of Duty... just a fantastic purchase."
Even if Fils-Aime thinks it was "fantastic", it seems like he isn't too impressed by the current Activision Blizzard management, and would like to see changes made by Microsoft when the deal is settled next year:
"Look that's going to be a decision my good friends Phil Spencer and Satya [Nadella] make, that's not my call... but as an executive, I know that leaders set the culture and that [Activision Blizzard] was a bad culture, it's not just Activision... regrettably the gaming industry has had a number of these types of situations..."
Do you agree with Fils-Aime, was buying Activision Blizzard a very clever move my Microsoft?
Thanks Pure Xbox