[GameSpot] - The Internet Reacts To Microsoft Buying Activision Blizzard

343iBot · January 18, 2022

In case you missed the news earlier today, Microsoft announced that it had bought a small company by the name of Activision Blizzard. The deal cost $68.7 billion, which is a reasonable price to pay to get development on Blur 2 off the ground.

Naturally, the sudden bombshell announcement that Microsoft had decided to buy a company that had become controversial over recent months for its mistreatment of employees, various scandals, and toxic workplace culture has dominated headlines.

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick will retain his position at the company, but he'll be reporting to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. "Bobby Kotick will continue to serve as CEO of Activision Blizzard, and he and his team will maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company's culture and accelerate business growth," Microsoft said in its announcement.

Phil's got the Infinity Studios.

Everyone's got something to say about the deal, but more importantly, everyone has a few memes to share as well. We've rounded up some of the best ones so far, in case you feel like having a quick chuckle at Microsoft flexing its financial muscles.

For more on the biggest deal in gaming, check out our post on the chances of Call of Duty becoming an Xbox exclusive and Microsoft reporting that Game Pass has reached 25 million subscribers.

Playstation after Microsoft buys another game company pic.twitter.com/I3mqj1qZXo
— AlexTremo (@AlexTremo_uwu) January 18, 2022

I can’t believe Microsoft just bought Tony Hawk’s mum and dad pic.twitter.com/odtAJQpCDD
— Game Maker's Toolkit (@gamemakerstk) January 18, 2022

At Sony we wanted to make a very strong and principled stance against employee harassment, which is why 30 minutes ago we decided to never work with Activision Blizzard again
— Ex-CEO Kaz Hirai (@KazHiraiCEO) January 18, 2022