Microsoft continues to shake the gaming world with big moves. Mainly, they are aiming to shift the way players access games with their Xbox Game Pass service. In a tactic no one saw coming, the company recently bought Activision for a massive amount of money. It is particularly strange to see this buyout for a myriad of reasons. Activision was actually the first third-party publisher, dating all the way back to the Atari 2600, so it is truly momentous to see them owned by someone else.
To show just how wild this buyout is, the following list details other notable mergers and buyouts and how much they cost. These are not necessarily the most expensive purchases, but instead the ones that release big titles most gamers enjoy. People should not let this recent buyout erase from people's minds the allegations and ongoing lawsuits around Activision. Justice still needs to be served for those who are guilty, and the victims need to be compensated.
7 Microsoft/Activision: $68.7 Billion
Starting off with the bomb Microsoft dropped on the gaming industry, this purchase has too many implications to go through in one list entry. Though players won't see the effects of this for a while, there is a strong probability some extremely popular franchises will become exclusive to Xbox and PC.
While it is an immediate plus for those in the Xbox ecosystem, the consolidation of all these companies might not have overly positive effects in the long run. On the other hand, it is a possibility for some fan-favorite Activision series to make a return. Call of Duty is the big one, though hints point to it remaining multiplatform for the time being.
6 Activision/Blizzard: $18.9 Billion
To be clear, this merger did not simply put Activision and Blizzard together. Blizzard was owned by Vivendi Universal, who also owned several other notable developers. Blizzard itself does not have a lot of games under its belt, but it is responsible for some of the most universally beloved games ever made.
Some fans have been displeased with the company in recent years, particularly with the lack of new StarCraft games since the StarCraft 2 trilogy. On the other hand, Overwatch had a huge impact on competitive multiplayer. Fans will have to wait and see see what Microsoft's acquisition of Activision means for Blizzard and its franchises. Maybe World of Warcraft will finally see a console version.
5 Square/Enix: $764 Million
Some mergers on this list are big names people regularly drop today, but the actual cost does not touch what Microsoft recently did. It would have been hard to believe these two publishers joining forces in the 90s. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in particular almost felt like rival games. In 2003, the two series were put under the same umbrella, as Square Enix.
It was a good move, since the company is now one of the biggest publishers in the industry. Final Fantasy admittedly had some dark years due to the mixed reception of Final Fantasy 13 and the disastrous launch of Final Fantasy 14, but the franchise has since recovered and is on top once again.
4 Facebook/Oculus: $2 Billion
People are understandably wary about Facebook's forays into gaming. Those who are into VR gaming had some of these fears realized once Facebook bought Oculus in 2014 and some changes were brought to the platform.
For example, players now have to log into their Facebook account to play games on their library. At least there are plenty of other options for VR players and other options on the horizon such as PS VR2, but it doesn't help for people who already invested money in an Oculus library.
3 Microsoft/Mojang: $2.5 Billion
This is one purchase people have to remind themselves of occasionally. Even though the company is Mojang, people basically refer to this purchase as Microsoft buying Minecraft. It is an interesting purchase, because the game is still available on almost every platform out there.
This is the main reason people think most other IPs from big acquisitions will remain on available other platforms. With the confirmed exclusivity of titles like Starfield, though, this thought is fading away. Minecraft remains one of the most popular properties out there.
2 Namco/Bandai: $1.7 Billion
These two big Japanese companies merged in 2006, creating one of the biggest publishers in Japan. The main impetus of the merger was Bandai's increased interest in video games. For Namco, it was an opportunity to make games based on numerous popular licenses owned by Bandai.
It was a good move, because more than 15 years later Bandai Namco is still going strong. One notable new franchise from the publisher is the Dark Souls games from FromSoftware, a trilogy many consider to be among the best games in recent years.
1 Microsoft/Bethesda: $7.5
Plenty of people can still remember when this purchase happened. It was considered unbelievable at the time, but it proved only to be the beginning of wild buyouts. Compared to Activision, this is totally rational. All the same, it is strange to think that Elder Scrolls VI might only come out on PC and Xbox.
The same goes for other franchises like Wolfenstein, Doom, and Fallout. There were several games with exclusivity deals in place that already came out first on PS5, the most notable of which is Deathloop.
