Screenshot of Microsoft's announcement of acquisition with Activision Blizzard

US technology company Microsoft announced on Tuesday the acquisition of US game producer Activision Blizzard with a $68.7 billion cash offer, meaning Microsoft is now the world's third largest online games company after China's Tencent and Japan's Sony.

The acquisition price hits a new record for a gaming company. The share price of Activision Blizzard rocketed to $82.31 at market close on Tuesday, up 25.88 percent from the previous day's trading. Sony saw its share price slump 7.17 percent.

Activision Blizzard is the brand behind notable games like World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Overwatch and Hearthstone, and has 390 million monthly active users worldwide as of the quarter ending September 30, 2021, according to its fiscal report. 

Like many enthusiasts around the world, Chinese gamers were shocked when the news came to light due to the "absolute silence" of both sides prior to the acquisition. However, following the announcement, gamers on Chinese social media Sina Weibo gave a thumbs-up to the merger.

According to an online vote launched by Sina Technology on Sina Weibo, over 13,000 netizens held a positive opinion toward the merger out of 20,000 voters as of the press time. With many commenting that the deal will help Activision Blizzard finalize new titles in their development pipeline. 

Sina Weibo user "Zaihu Ni Ganma" joked that popular game Hearthstone will have different versions for home, business and enterprise. 

Shao Ran, a Beijing-based Activision Blizzard fan told the Global Times on Wednesday that the acquisition may accelerate the development of Blizzard's games that have been repeatedly postponed. 

"Such as my favorite game Overwatch, it has been over two years since its sequel Overwatch 2 debuted in November 2019," said Shao. He said that the last large-scaled game update of Overwatch was on April 2020, and Microsoft's supports may help the game run better in the future. 

Global Times