Microsoft is in no hurry to disrupt its new billion-dollar publishing trinity. The company seems to embrace the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
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Business integrations are often messy, leading to hundreds of layoffs, product cancellations, and large-scale disruptions. But that’s not the case with Microsoft’s $70 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard King. While the three armed organizations are indeed owned by Microsoft, ABK operates as a limited liability company. Like ZeniMax/Bethesda, ABK has its own budget, creates its own projects, and writes its own books.
Blizzard is apparently enjoying the move to hiring Microsoft. In a recent interview with VideoGamesChronicle, World of Warcraft Vice President Holly Longdale said it’s not like a multi-trillion dollar tech giant has come in and started telling everyone what to do. WOW is going strong right now and Microsoft doesn’t want to get in the way. In other words, Microsoft wants Blizzard to keep doing what it’s been doing: making hundreds of millions of dollars every quarter from the success of live service games.
“Nobody’s asking us for anything. World of Warcraft is doing very well and they’re very proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish. So it’s almost like… Just leave it alone and let it continue to be great.’ Longdale told VGC (WoW is one of Blizzard’s top grossing companies and the envy of the MMO market).
“They’re very supportive and like, ‘Let’s let Blizzard be Blizzard.'”
Other than things like platform availability and the logistics of Xbox Game Pass, Microsoft may not really step in and start fixing things for Blizzard as long as revenue and profits remain healthy.
And looks healthy. We no longer know how much money Blizzard makes because Microsoft isn’t communicating that information. All of ABK’s financial statements have been delisted. However, as of Q2 2023 (April to June), Blizzard was making over $1 billion in the three-month quarter, primarily due to the release of Diablo IV.
