A tremendous week for the gaming industry. 

The titan, Microsoft, made a surprise acquisition over the last week by purchasing Activision Blizzard for an astounding $68.7 billion. As many know, Activision Blizzard has been faced with a significant PR nightmare with the sexual harassment and discrimination scandal at the top of leadership. 

The buyout is significant in the gaming industry for several reasons. Some of the top played titles including Call of Duty, Warcraft, and Overwatch including several hundred other titles makes it one of the largest purchases in recorded history within the gaming industry. What this means for the future of PlayStation releases remains to be seen. For the foreseeable future, however, we expect things to be status quo. After all, there are contracts that have to be obliged by Microsoft. After those expire, it will be fair game for exclusives. Will this knock PlayStation off its "exclusive, high-horse?"

This acquisition will surely raise regulatory concerns as more and more software companies are being swallowed up whole by larger giants. Whether the deal officially goes through is still to be seen. The deal is expected to be complete between July, 2022 and July, 2023. The titles are expected to come to Game Pass in the immediate future as part of the purchase agreement. 

Microsoft's largest acquisitions:

Activision Blizzard: $68.7 billion
Linkedin: $26.2 billion
Nuance: $19.7 billion
Skype: $8.5 billion
ZeniMax: $7.5 billion
GitHub: $7.5 bilion
Nokia phone unit: $7.2 billion
aQuantive: $6.3 billion
Mojang (Minecraft): $2.5 billion

What does this mean for gamers? We expect the gaming environment to be significantly altered over the next few years. Expect lots of crossovers and integrations within Microsoft's current catalog.