Activision Blizzard

Activision Blizzard, Inc.
Company typeSubsidiary
Nasdaq: ATVI (2008–2023)
IndustryVideo games
Predecessors
FoundedJuly 9, 2008; 16 years ago (2008-07-09)
Headquarters
Santa Monica, California
,
US
Products
RevenueUS$7.53 billion (2022)
US$1.67 billion (2022)
US$1.51 billion (2022)
Total assetsUS$27.4 billion (2022)
Total equityUS$19.2 billion (2022)
Number of employees
17,000[1] (2023)
Parent
DivisionsActivision Blizzard Consumer Products Group
Activision Blizzard Esports
Activision Blizzard Media
Subsidiaries
Websiteactivisionblizzard.com
Footnotes / references
[2]

Activision Blizzard, Inc.[a] is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California.[3] Activision Blizzard currently includes five business units:[4] Activision Publishing, Blizzard Entertainment, King,[5] Major League Gaming,[6] and Activision Blizzard Studios.[7][8]

Founded in July 2008 through the merger of Activision, Inc. (the publicly traded parent company of Activision Publishing) and Vivendi Games, the company owns and operates additional subsidiary studios, as part of Activision Publishing, including Treyarch, Infinity Ward, and High Moon Studios.[4] Among major intellectual properties produced by Activision Blizzard are Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Guitar Hero, Skylanders, Spyro, Tony Hawk's, Diablo, Hearthstone, Heroes of the Storm, Overwatch, StarCraft, World of Warcraft, and Candy Crush Saga. Under Blizzard Entertainment, it invested in esports initiatives around several of its games, most notably Overwatch and Call of Duty. Activision Blizzard's titles have broken a number of release records.[9][10][11] As of March 2018, it was the largest game company in the Americas and Europe in terms of revenue and market capitalization.[12]

The company has also been involved in multiple notable controversies, including allegations of infringed patents and unpaid royalties.[13][14][15] In late July 2021, it was sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing on allegations of sexual harassment and employee discrimination.[16] The suit triggered an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,[17] multiple workplace walkouts,[18] the resignation or dismissal of several employees, the loss of multiple company event sponsors,[19][20] and hundreds of workplace harassment allegations.[21]

Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion on January 18, 2022. The acquisition was completed on October 13, 2023.[22] Activision Blizzard is a subsidiary of Microsoft Gaming along with Xbox Game Studios and ZeniMax Media.[23]

  1. ^ "Bobby Kotick Breaks His Silence: Embattled Activision CEO Addresses Toxic Workforce Claims as Microsoft Deal Hangs in Balance". Variety. May 31, 2023.
  2. ^ "Activision Blizzard 2022 Annual Report". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. February 23, 2023.
  3. ^ Tarver, Evan (March 15, 2016). "Top 5 Mutual Fund Holders of Activision Blizzard (ATVI, FOCPX)". Investopedia. Archived from the original on March 20, 2016. Retrieved March 29, 2016.
  4. ^ a b "Activision - Blizzard: Our Company". activisionblizzard.com. Archived from the original on January 18, 2016. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
  5. ^ "Activision Blizzard to Buy King Digital, Maker of Candy Crush". The New York Times. November 2, 2015. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved November 3, 2015.
  6. ^ "Activision Blizzard beefs up e-sports muscle". CNET. Archived from the original on January 3, 2016. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  7. ^ Morris, Chris (October 22, 2015). "Why Activision-Blizzard just launched a new eSports division". Fortune. Archived from the original on November 10, 2015. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  8. ^ Goldfarb, Andrew (November 6, 2015). "Call of Duty Movie, Skylander TV Show Headline New Activision Blizzard Film Studio". IGN. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. Retrieved November 6, 2015.
  9. ^ "MW3 Breaks Black Ops Launch Record". November 11, 2011. Archived from the original on November 12, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2011.
  10. ^ Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 selling 'significantly' better than Advanced Warfare and Ghosts Archived April 8, 2016, at the Wayback Machine By Samit Sarkar on November 11, 2015, at 5:30p @SamitSarkar
  11. ^ Knight, Shawn (January 15, 2016). "'Call of Duty: Black Ops III' was the best-selling game of 2015". www.techspot.com. Archived from the original on January 18, 2016. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  12. ^ Jordan, Jon (March 16, 2018). "Earnings report roundup: Game industry winners and losers in Q4 2017". www.gamasutra.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2018.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference bfilessuitcountersuit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Allsup, Maeve (July 21, 2021). "Activision Blizzard Sued Over 'Frat Boy' culture, Harassment". Bloomberg Law. Archived from the original on August 2, 2021. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  17. ^ Grind, Kirsten; Needleman, Sarah E. (September 20, 2021). "SEC Is Investigating Activision Blizzard Over Workplace Practices, Disclosures". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on September 20, 2021. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  18. ^ Schiffer, Zoe; Webster, Andrew (July 27, 2021). "Activision Blizzard employees to walk out following sexual harassment lawsuit". The Verge. Archived from the original on July 28, 2021. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  19. ^ McWhertor, Michael (August 3, 2021). "Activision Blizzard loses T-Mobile as sponsor for Overwatch, Call of Duty esports leagues". Polygon. Archived from the original on August 3, 2021. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  20. ^ "Amid harassment lawsuit, advertisers pull back from Blizzard's Overwatch League". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on August 6, 2021. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  21. ^ D'Anastasio, Cecilia. "Activision Blizzard Employees Are Done With CEO Bobby Kotick". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on November 17, 2021. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
  22. ^ Warren, Tom (October 13, 2023). "Microsoft completes Activision Blizzard acquisition, Call of Duty now part of Xbox". The Verge. Retrieved October 13, 2023.
  23. ^ Patnaik, Subrat. "Microsoft to buy 'Call of Duty' maker for $68.7 bln in gaming push". Reuters. Archived from the original on January 18, 2022. Retrieved January 18, 2022.


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