On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced that they would be acquiring Activision for $68,700,000,000 in an all cash deal. After said announcement, Microsoft went through a plethora of court sessions. Dealt with the fact that Microsoft could make Activision games Xbox exclusive and stop PlayStation users from playing big titles like Call of Duty and Overwatch; consequently creating a monopoly. Users would stop purchasing PlayStations due to the lack of Call of Duty’s availability to play.
Sony released a statement stating: “Microsoft’s ownership of Activision would provide Microsoft with the ability to withhold or degrade Activision content through various means, including manipulating Activision’s pricing, degrading game quality or player experience on rival offerings, changing the terms and timing of access to Activision’s content, or withholding content from competitors.” Microsoft countered this argument by showing that Sony held multiple PlayStation exclusive games such as Spider-Man, and God of War.
After over a year, and many more court dates and arguments, the deal was finalized on October 13, 2023 and Activision Blizzard was brought on as a new part of the Microsoft Gaming Business Division. Sony tried so hard to stop this deal and failed, but what was the outcome of this acquisition? Activision just released a clear showcase of the decreased quality, caused by the attainment with the brand new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III. So far, this game has been a disaster. In the story mode or campaign locations were re-used from the 2019 Call of Duty. For some players, this was the best thing about the game, for others it made the game one of the worst titles ever released. According to Sports Illustrated, Modern Warfare III is “The worst COD at the worst time.” Later in the same article they comment, “We’ve seen it all before– this is a reimagining of 2011’s Modern Warfare 3, after all– but the energy has been utterly sucked out of every mission and encounter.”
Fans are also complaining that the story is incredibly short. Typically, a Call of Duty campaign is around 6 to 7 hours. With the new MWIII, the campaign is only 3 to 4 hours long. This is a massive let-down to the entirety of the gaming community as Activision is known for producing long, story-rich campaigns with amazing graphics, however, this year that was not the case. Fans claim that this should have been a DLC available for MWIII and that the price should not have been at the intriguing price point of $69.99. MWIII has the highest retail price out of any Call of Duty ever released. Overall it seems as if Microsoft has had a large impact on the production of games made by Activision Blizzard, but only time can tell if Call of Duty will be revived and Activision will start releasing good titles, once again.
