From CoD to WoW: Microsoft now owns some of the biggest game franchises of all time.
After months of struggle, one of the largest deals in the video game industry was completed last Friday with Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of Activision-Blizzard-King, creating some of the most successful game franchises of all, from Call of Duty to World of Warcraft Times changed hands.
To give you an overview of which brands will belong to Microsoft in the future and are more likely to appear exclusively (for a time) on Xbox consoles, here is a clear list of the game series.
Disclaimer: The list does not claim to be complete, but shows either well-known or still relevant and successful game series.
These game series are now owned by Microsoft
Known Blizzard franchises:
- Diablo
- Hearthstone
- Heroes of the Storm
- Lost Vikings
- Overwatch
- Starcraft
- Warcraft
- World of Warcraft
Diablo 4 is the latest game from Blizzard, which is now owned by Microsoft.
Known Activision franchises:
- Blur
- Call of Duty
- Call to Power
- Crash Bandicoot
- Dark Reign
- Geometry Wars
- Guitar Hero
- Gun
- Pitfall
- Prototypes
- Skylanders
- Singularity
- Spyro the Dragon
- Soldier of Fortune
- Tenchu
- Tony Hawk
- True crime
The Tony Hawk series also becomes the property of Microsoft.
Known King franchises:
- Bubble Witch Saga
- candy Crush Saga
The mega deal and its consequences
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As Microsoft has already announced, many Activision Blizzard brands will be making their way to Game Pass in the coming months. Just like what happened with Bethesda games after the takeover. Only time will tell whether World of Warcraft, which has a subscription model, will be added.
It will also be exciting to see which of the big brands will appear exclusively for Xbox consoles and PC in the future. In the case of Call of Duty, we already know that the series will continue to make its way to PlayStation consoles in the next 10 years.
And what about Activision Blizzard brands we haven’t heard from in a long time? Is a Guitar Hero or a Prototype coming back? Feel free to write to us in the comments which lost brands Microsoft should revive.
