Acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft in the context of "Microsoft"

Microsoft Gaming is the video game and digital entertainment division of the American multinational technology company Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington and established in 2022. Its five development and publishing labels consist of: Xbox Game Studios, Bethesda Softworks (publisher of ZeniMax Media), Activision, Blizzard Entertainment, and King (the latter three are publishers of Activision Blizzard). It produces the Xbox video game consoles and services, in addition to overseeing production and sales, and is led by CEO Phil Spencer, who has overseen Xbox since 2014.

Prior to 2022, Microsoft had several different video game-related product lines, including Xbox hardware, Xbox operations, and game development studios. Microsoft Gaming was created with the announcement of Microsoft's plans to acquire Activision Blizzard to unify all of Microsoft's gaming groups within a single division. With the completion of the Activision Blizzard acquisition in 2023, Microsoft became one of the largest gaming companies, the third-by revenue and the largest by employment. The company has 500 million monthly active players across all gaming platforms.

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the highly influential massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft (2004) as well as the multi million-selling video game franchises Diablo, StarCraft, and Overwatch. The company also operates Battle.net, an online gaming service.

Founded as Silicon & Synapse, Inc. by three graduates of the University of California, Los Angeles: Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham, and Frank Pearce. The company began development of their own software in 1993, with games like Rock n' Roll Racing and The Lost Vikings, and changed its name to Chaos Studios, Inc. the same year, then to Blizzard Entertainment after being acquired by distributor Davidson & Associates in 1994; that year, the company released Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, which would receive numerous sequels and led to the highly popular World of Warcraft. By the end of the decade, Blizzard also found success with the action role-playing game Diablo (1997) and strategy game StarCraft (1998). The company became part of Vivendi Games in 1998, which would then merge with Activision in 2008, culminating in the inclusion of the Blizzard brand name in the title of the resulting holding company; Activision Blizzard became completely independent from Vivendi in 2013. Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard in 2023, maintaining that the company will continue to operate as a separate business, while part of the larger Microsoft Gaming division; Blizzard Entertainment retains its function as the publisher of games developed by their studios.

King.com Limited is a Swedish video game developer and publisher that specialises in social games. Since 2016, it is one of 3 publishing businesses of Activision Blizzard. Headquartered in Stockholm and London, and incorporated in St. Julian's, Malta, King rose to prominence after releasing the cross-platform title Candy Crush Saga in 2012. It is considered as one of the most financially successful games utilising the freemium model. King was acquired by Activision Blizzard in February 2016 for US$5.9 billion, and operates as its own entity within that company. King is led by Todd Green, who holds the position of President. Gerhard Florin took over Melvyn Morris's role as chairman in November 2014. As of 2017, King employs 2,000 people.

In October 2023, Microsoft acquired parent company Activision Blizzard, maintaining that the company will continue to operate as a separate business. While part of the larger Microsoft Gaming division, King retains its function as the publisher of games developed by themselves.