Everyone loves video games. They have this incredible ability to bring people together and provide a fantastic escape.
From RPGs, to action-packed shooters, or mind-bending puzzles, there's pretty much a game for every taste.
Microsoft has long been the key player in the tech industry, and has also been in several games throughout the years. In fact, it also owns the Xbox platform.
But this time, after its Microsoft's Activision Blizzard deal finally came to its long-awaited conclusion back in October 2023, with the two companies successfully merging, Microsoft couldn't be anymore serious about being a key player in the gaming industry.
While the deal makes the Xbox platform a much-more inviting one for gamers, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been keen to point out that this benefits other platforms too - including PlayStation and Nintendo.
Speaking to Bloomberg this week, Nadella briefly the company's gaming strategy after finally pushing the Activision Blizzard deal through, saying that:
"But, we were number three, number four. And now with Activision I think we have a chance of being a good publisher — quite frankly — on Sony, Nintendo, PCs and Xbox."
"So yeah, we're excited about that acquisition closing and I'm glad we got it through."
Generally speaking, Xbox was a competitor to Sony's PlayStation, but lacked the punch.
Back in 2022, Microsoft admitted that Sony has more exclusive games that are "better quality" than its own, and that in 2023, Microsoft gaming CEO admitted that he lost the console wars.
PlayStation's CEO and President went on to claim that PlayStation Plus was a better service than Xbox's Game Pass.
Nadella knows this too.
But as a person at the helm of everything at Microsoft, he has to stay quite candid.
Nadella knows Xbox's position and its lack of competing power in the market, and that how the company was behind Sony and Nintendo in many aspects.
But following the Blizzard Activision acquisition, it's clear that Nadella wants Xbox to close that gap.
Read: Microsoft Wants To Buy Activision Blizzard To Make Gaming The Largest Online Entertainment
The acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft is a significant event in the gaming industry, because the $69 billion acquisition, which has finally been completed after Microsoft worked to appease regulators and fend off litigation, allows Microsoft to own all the developers under the Activision Blizzard company.
What this means, Microsoft owns everything from Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, and King, the latter of which is the developer behind the wildly popular mobile series Candy Crush.
This also means that Microsoft owns the rights to all of the games and IP Activision Blizzard previously released.
But that doesn't mean avoiding Blizzard Activision from publishing games on other platforms, even if it has the rights or if it makes sense.
One place where it certainly makes sense is in regards to the Call of Duty franchise.
Microsoft has signed deals with both Sony and Nintendo to bring CoD to their systems for the next decade.