5 reasons Microsoft buying Activision Blizzard is good for gamers

an image showing Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard

(Epitome credit: Microsoft)

In a motility that rocked the gaming world, Microsoft appear it will buy major publisher Activision Blizzard for a huge $68.7 billion; that's the largest acquisition in the gaming industry ever.

This follows in the footsteps of 2020's motility past Microsoft to buy Bethesda and all of its developers. So understandably, there accept been murmurs that this could be bad for the gaming world, seeing PS5 and PS4 players left out on the common cold equally Microsoft bolsters the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S with exclusive games.

While I'g no business guru, I don't think being bought past Microsoft is a bad thing for Activision Blizzard or a sign of an insipid monopoly building upwardly within the gaming manufacture. Rather, I feel there are some positive things hither, and the deal could do good gamers hugely. Allow me tell yous why.

Xbox Game Laissez passer becomes an fifty-fifty better deal

An image of an Xbox controller and Xbox Game Pass — (Image credit: Shutterstock)

It's non original to say Xbox Game Pass is the best bargain in gaming; for a flat fee you tin can get access to a seemingly e'er-growing range of games. These stretch from generic shooters to intriguing indie games, as well as all of Xbox Game Studio'southward first-party titles like Halo Infinite and Forza Horizon 5.

With the Bethesda purchase, Microsoft added a suite of the developer'due south games to Game Pass. And it plans to do the same with Activision Blizzard'south portfolio, meaning a range of Telephone call of Duty games, Overwatch, Diablo and more than are set up to make it on Game Laissez passer, probable in 2023.

When y'all add those up with games from Bethesda and a range of EA games, not least of all Mass Outcome Legendary Edition, Game Laissez passer becomes a killer service for pretty much any device that'll support information technology.

Affordable access to more games

Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S on colorful background — (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Non everyone tin afford the $fifty to $70 prices many games at present command, let lone a $499 Xbox Serial 10. And that's especially truthful of nations not blest with the wealth of the U.S. or Europe; affording one game a month could exist quite the ask for some.

Merely for roughly $10 a month, Xbox Game Pass provides access to a bounty of games, quondam and new, meaning you don't fifty-fifty have to be a long-time Xbox gamer to play some of the best Xbox games over the space of xx years. Blizzard has already appear evolution of a new survival game, one that's likely to be an Xbox and PC exclusive. That democratizes gaming and that's skillful for gamers from all walks of life.

Certain, Microsoft could ramp up the price of Game Pass, as we've seen Netflix do by hiking prices. But I experience it'll still be a bargain for what it's offering: access to a load of games across multiple platforms, generations and publishers.

Play console-quality games anywhere

photo of a Samsung phone connected to an Xbox Wireless controller sitting on top of Xbox games — (Image credit: Time to come)

Building upon the accessibility point, expanding Xbox Game Pass also seems fix to accept the knock-on event of making the likes of Overwatch, World of Warcraft and more available for anyone to play on pretty much any platform providing they have a decent internet connexion, exist it wired or 5G.

That'southward considering with Xbox Game Laissez passer Ultimate you lot don't actually demand an Xbox console to play a range of games, with cloud-powered game streaming piping the like of Gears 5 to the best phones and best Chromebooks.

With Xbox Series X restocks nonetheless tricky to pin down, existence able to stream the latest and all-time Xbox Series Ten games to an Xbox 1 or some other compatible device is brilliant. It means those who tin't get the latest panel or beget to purchase it, can still enjoy a fresh generation of gaming. This would also benefit PlayStation fans, as even if they don't want to become an Xbox console they could nonetheless access Game Pass on a myriad of devices.

Heck, even if yous have all of the consoles, being able to stream modern games to a smartphone when yous're out and about is very slick; Microsoft has even worked on retrofitted touchscreen controls for some games.

A purge of toxicity

Halo Infinite Master Chief — (Image credit: 343i)

Activision Blizzard is currently embroiled in a U.S. lawsuit around the way it'due south treated its workers. And the company has come up under a lot of scrutiny from allegedly creating a toxic work environment, specially onwards women.

While the publisher isn't struggling too much financially, information technology'south no surprise that it's not put out a stellar game for a while; unhappy workers rarely practise good work. Prior to the acquisition announcement, Phil Spencer, Xbox boss and newly minted CEO of Microsoft Gaming, has been vocal against the behavior of Activision Blizzard equally a company and its executive board.

Due to the way acquisitions and publicly traded companies work, Microsoft can't come out and say exactly what will happen to Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision Blizzard and a homo heavily involved in the publisher'due south controversy. Just the structure of the Microsoft Gaming division seems to make it clear that there's no room for two CEOs — meaning it's likely to be game over for Kotick.

As a result, I'g optimistic that Microsoft will purge the toxic elements of Activision Blizzard and bring in a better working culture. Afterwards some initial slip ups with its early on acquisitions of studios, like the now-defunct Lionhead, Microsoft seems to exist a lot more than savvy when information technology comes to letting studios define their ain path still supporting them financially. And then a lot of Activision Blizzard's studios and teams could find themselves with greater freedoms and a less challenging environment to work under.

That could all make for ameliorate and more creative games rather than just another rote Call of Duty game. Spencer has said he'd like to see more than of Activision Blizzard'south older games make a comeback in some grade or another. And then we could see a burst of creativity from the publisher's developers; that'due south skilful for gaming. Testify of this could be traced dorsum to the likes of Obsidian being given the telescopic to piece of work on Avowed or Double Fine being able to create Psychonauts ii, a game that may non have had the blessing of a traditional publisher.

Access to earth-spanning tech

Xbox Series X vs. Xbox One — (Epitome credit: Xbox)

Microsoft might exist deeply involved in gaming, but it's a tech company first. And that means all the developers it has acquired could tap into the mass of technology Redmond has. Microsoft has the second-largest cloud platform that supports everything from streaming services to development tools and machine learning.

Every bit such, a developer who may have been on a cash-strapped budget and needing to purchase Azure deject tools, would now have access to them. I tin imagine games getting improve AI thanks to Microsoft's work on automobile learning. Or having more than stable servers thank you to the support of the Microsoft Cloud.

Again, for gamers this is good equally it could mean more innovative games that too look better and run amend. These games could even be bundled into the new version of Windows; it might audio light-headed, merely imagine if the next Windows 11 update came with Skyrim, as that game seems to exist installed simply about everywhere.

I will caveat all the above, past proverb I could be very naïve and exist putting as well much faith in a corporation I remember has been a good entity over the past few years. And I'm sure some diehard PlayStation fans volition balk at the bargain.

But of all the companies that could have bought Activision Blizzard, I think Microsoft is the right i.

Roland Moore-Colyer is U.K. Editor at Tom'southward Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He often writes virtually gaming, phones, laptops and other bits of hardware; he'southward also got an interest in cars. When non at his desk Roland can be found wandering around London, often with a look of curiosity on his face.