Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick commented on the proposed acquisition by Microsoft.
In an interview on Variety, Kotick explained why being acquired by the console manufacturer made sense for the publisher of Call of Duty and Diablo.
“I like the company. I like the culture. I’m really scared about the economy — compensation for talent has been ratcheting up in ways that are complex for us to deal with. So this deal made a lot of sense.”
Kotick believes that the acquisition is the right thing not only for Activision and Microsoft but for the industry as a whole but the company can continue to be successful alone if the deal happens to fall through.
“We have a great company. We have an enormous amount of momentum, and we have an extraordinary balance sheet. And we can continue to be successful alone like we have been for the last 30 years. But it’ll be great if the deal goes through because I think it’s the right thing for our industry.”
He also added that he believes Microsoft is “by far the best place" for Activision Blizzard to belong to.
Recently, the European Union approved the deal including proposed remedies to level the competitive playing field on the cloud market, which Microsoft agreed to. A few days ago, we learned that the deal was approved by the Chinese authority, while yesterday South Korea's regulator also cleared the deal, bringing the number of countries that officially cleared the acquisition to 38.
This leaves the British CMA isolated in its stance against the deal (followed by an appeal from Microsoft including some rather firm rebuttals of the ruling), with the American FTC matching its opposition, but having to go through a legal process to actually be able to block it. The hearing for the appeal against the CMA doesn't have a firm date yet, but the two weeks between July 24 and August 7 have been written down in "heavy pencil" by the presiding Judge.
In the meanwhile, a judge of the United States District Court Northern District of California denied the preliminary injunction requested against Microsoft in the so-called "gamers' lawsuit" which also aims to prevent the acquisition.
