Four years after the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Microsoft may finally be able to close one of the deal’s last major legal battles. The company has agreed to a $250 million settlement in a lawsuit filed by Swedish pension fund Sjunde AP-Fonden, which claimed that Activision sold itself too quickly and too cheaply.

According to Reuters, Microsoft has agreed to a $250 million settlement in a lawsuit brought by the Swedish pension fund Sjunde AP-Fonden over the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In simple terms, the dispute centered on the allegation that Activision moved too fast and accepted too little when it agreed to be bought by Microsoft.

Microsoft paid $69 billion for Activision Blizzard in the 2022 deal, a huge sum by any measure. Later that year, however, as GameFile reported, Sjunde AP-Fonden, also known as AP7, filed suit. The pension fund alleged that former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick rushed the deal in order to avoid fallout from reports of sexual misconduct at the company, while also protecting his own massive payout from the acquisition.

Kotick Countersued, And Embracer Was Dragged Into The Story

Kotick filed his own countersuit, arguing that the AP7 lawsuit was at least partly “aimed to help pave the way for [Swedish game company] Embracer to increase its foothold in the California market at the expense of Activision.” Embracer responded by saying it was “humbled” by the claim, but denied it, adding that “we did not and do not need any help from a Swedish pension fund in competing with Activision.”

All of this happened before Embracer’s later $2 billion implosion. At that point, the company was still on a major roll and was widely seen as one of the most aggressively expanding players in the video game industry. That gave the case an especially unusual side story: a Swedish pension fund, an American gaming giant, Microsoft, Bobby Kotick and the still-expanding Embracer all ended up tangled in the same legal mess.

Now, however, all of that is essentially water under the bridge. The $250 million settlement means the lawsuit goes away, along with the countersuits filed by Kotick and Microsoft. After four years, Microsoft can put one of the last major legal aftershocks of the Activision Blizzard acquisition behind it.

$250 Million Is A Lot Of Money – But Not Next To The Activision Deal

$250 million sounds like an enormous amount of money, and of course, it is. For Microsoft, however, it is less than one-half of one percent of the original $69 billion acquisition price. In other words, this is less a financial shock than a costly closing fee. From the company’s perspective, it is closer to tossing a few extra coins onto the end of an already gigantic transaction.

That does not mean the case was insignificant. The lawsuit once again brought up Activision Blizzard’s earlier internal scandals, Bobby Kotick’s role, the speed of the acquisition and the question of whether shareholders really received the best possible deal. The acquisition is already complete, and Activision Blizzard is now part of Microsoft, but the legal aftershocks have continued until now.

For Microsoft, the real value of the settlement is likely not the amount itself, but the finality it provides. The company can now move past another lawsuit connected to the Activision deal and focus on what it wanted in the first place: integrating Activision Blizzard, Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, Diablo and the rest of the acquired brands into its own gaming ecosystem.

Four years later, then, Microsoft can finally close one of the most persistent legal leftovers from the Activision Blizzard acquisition. A $250 million settlement sounds painful, but next to a $69 billion deal, it is more like an expensive full stop at the end of the sentence. What the company probably wanted most was exactly that: no more litigation, no more countersuits, just a closed file.

Source: PC Gamer