Activision Blizzard, the publisher of Call of Duty and Diablo, approached several major companies, but in the end, a settlement with Xbox proved to be the best solution.

Little by little, more and more details are emerging about the biggest transaction in video game history: the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. However, such transactions are not the fruit of a single day and are not without their external players. So Bloomberg dove into the details of the deal yesterday, providing how the Call of Duty publisher contacted Meta Platforms Inc – Facebook’s parent company – and another major company, alongside the Redmond-based one, ultimately to no avail.

According to news agency sources, Bobby Kotick and Activision Blizzard’s board of directors did not immediately bow to Microsoft…

… and sought interest from several bidders, but no more than initial contacts were made.

Bloomberg reports that, recognising Activision Blizzard’s doubts, Microsoft has changed its stance on the Call of Duty, Warcraft and Diablo publisher and said it was happy to continue doing business with the developer. So the King owners sat down with the Redmond giant again and set the whole process in motion to green-light the deal.

Phil Spencer was essential to the deal

The Bloomberg publication devotes several paragraphs of text to praising Phil Spencer as the main driver of the deal. It states that it was the head of Microsoft Gaming who led the negotiations alongside Bobby Kotick, with Satya Nadella taking a back seat.

Microsoft has also recently been approached about the $12.7 billion acquisition of another big gaming deal, Zynga, by Take-Two Interactive. According to Bloomberg, the Redmond company has been approached by parties interested in the deal, but in this case it has not been very successful.

Source: Bloomberg