Microsoft bought Bethesda in 2020 and the companies held their joint exhibition during this year’s Not-E3 in June. Microsoft has been in the process of buying Activision Blizzard since the deal was announced in January this year, with their acquisition pending approval from competition regulators in several countries. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority issued a statement saying it was investigating the deal in early July, with a tentative deadline for any further investigation set for early September. “Specifically, with respect to Activision Blizzard video games, there is nothing unique to Activision Blizzard developed and published video games that is ‘essential’ to competing PC and console video game distributors that could give rise to a foreclosure concern.” read Microsoft’s response to the New Zealand Trade Commission, published in a June report. This means that Microsoft does not believe that its future ownership of Activision Blizzard franchises such as Call Of Duty could cause problems that would prevent its rivals – which include Valve in the PC space – from competing. . Keep in mind that Call Of Duty alone has raked in $27bn (£22bn) for Activision Blizzard since the series debuted in 2003, an earnings call last year revealed. At the time of that call, the company’s Chief Operating Officer Daniel Alegre said Call Of Duty was “one of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time.” It’s just not necessary, I guess. Microsoft clarified in its responses to the New Zealand Trade Commission that it will not withdraw support for Activision-Blizzard games from platforms other than its own Xbox and Microsoft Store. This has already been confirmed by the upcoming re-emergence of the Call Of Duty series on Steam with October’s Modern Warfare 2. However, as Alice Bee pointed out earlier this year, there are many other reasons why corporate consolidation in the games industry is not necessarily a good thing. Activision Blizzard continues to deal with legal issues and reports alleging a discriminatory and harassing work environment. Actiblizz shareholders voted at their annual meeting in June to re-elect CEO Bobby Kotick to the board for another year, despite employee calls for him to step down.