Now this is quite a surprise: Microsoft just announced it is acquiring Activision Blizzard. Once the acquisition is complete, Microsoft will be the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, right behind Tencent and Sony.

The acquisition will value Activision Blizzard at a whopping $68.7 billion, which comes up to about RM287 billion. But until the transaction is done, Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as the CEO of Activision Blizzard.

“Once the deal closes, the Activision Blizzard business will report to Phil Spencer, CEO, Microsoft Gaming,” said the company in a press release.

Needless to say, almost every gamer knows Activision Blizzard. Or at least, they know the games the publisher releases. These include Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Diablo, Starcraft, and Hearthstone.

“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” said the chairman and CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella.

“We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community, and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all,” he added.