Blog: Activision

Call of Duty dropped the ‘Tracer Pack: Snoop Dogg Operator Bundle’, costing 2,400 COD Points ($19.99). It comes with Snoop’s playable skin, his own voice lines and progression path towards unlockable weapons and rewards including sprays, stickers, emblem, weapon charms and four operator outfits etc.

Brad Smith, president and vice chair at Microsoft, published a post on Microsoft’s website yesterday , outlining the company’s new Open App Store principles and addressing key questions around exclusivity going forward.

Only last week we wrote about Take-Two acquiring Zynga for $12.7 billion in what was the largest games acquisition in history. But that was last week. This week, that record is beaten more than five-fold, thanks to Microsoft acquiring Activision for an eye-watering $68.

Activision Blizzard reported its Q3 results late last week. Despite beating guidance on net income, which reached $260 million, the company’s stock plummeted following the announcement. The key worries include engagement, success of future games within franchises like Call of Duty and Destiny, as well as having a very good successful previous year to compare against.

We pointed out the risks associated with the app economy being too dependent on a few hit apps back in 2014. The big question always was whether new titles of hit mobile game publishers could replicate or supersede the popularity of their previous hits, before users started becoming bored and investors start to panic.