Microsoft expects Activision Blizzard acquisition to go through without concessi...

Microsoft expects Activision Blizzard acquisition to go through without concessions.

Last month, Microsoft shocked the gaming industry by announcing its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for around $70 billion. Since then, many gamers have questioned whether regulatory authorities would approve such a massive deal because it would give Microsoft control of popular franchises like Call of Duty, Diablo, Overwatch, and more.

Currently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reviewing the acquisition, but Microsoft head Satya Nadella doesn't think the company will have to make concessions for the deal to go through. He said the following to the Financial Times.

Nadella suggested that Microsoft should not need to make any formal concessions to win regulatory approval for the deal, because it would still be too small to have an anti-competitive impact. 'At the end of the day, all the analysis here has to be done through a lens of: 'What's the category we're talking about, and market structure?' he said. 'Even post this acquisition, we will be number three with sort of low-teens share ... We will be a bit player in what will be a highly fragmented place.'

Currently, the market is fragmented with a lot of players from Sony to EA. Some of the biggest names in gaming and their market values are listed below.

• EA: $37 billion
• Take-Two Interactive: $25 billion with Zynga
• Bandai Namco: $15 billion
• Embracer Group: $15 billion
• Ubisoft: $7 billion
• Konami: $6 billion
• Square Enix: $6 billion
• Capcom: $5 billion
• Sega: $4 billion

Even if Microsoft were to acquire other companies, there would be plenty of publishers out there to challenge its dominance in the space. Right now, Sony's PlayStation division generates the most revenue out of all the console makers. According to a new report by GameSpot, PlayStation brought in $24.87 billion compared to Xbox's $16.28 billion in 2021.