When it comes to the gaming world, there hasn't been news of the size and scope of Microsoft reaching a deal to acquire Activision Blizzard for quite some time. Indeed, when news broke that Microsoft was going to own Activision Blizzard (or ABK) it shook social media right down to its core. There was hardly anyone remotely involved in the industry talking about anything else.
Once shock and surprise wore off, the questions started to roll across social media. Right at the top of the list was "how did Microsoft pull this off?" After all, the deal meant that the Xbox maker was coming up with $68.7 billion dollars in order to purchase a firm that itself was once two separate entities. Those two separate entities were plenty well-known and powerful in the video game world all on their own with titles like Call of Duty and World of Warcraft under their respective umbrellas.
There was another question that slowly started gaining steam that was actually tied to all the others not long after the acquisition became news. It was a question that doesn't necessarily need to be answered today, but it's definitely a question that needs to be answered at some point, and it can't wait all that long. That question is, "when will Xbox address the rather large elephant sitting in the corner of the room, wearing an Activision Blizzard t-shirt?"
Intentionally Absorbing A Troubled Company
It's entirely possible that there are some people out there that don't know the full history of Activision Blizzard or just why the company was having so many financial problems. After all, the main reason this deal went down is, at its core, the fact that ABK's stock price was falling, and it didn't seem like it was going to turn around without some real help. In came Microsoft to buy up the firm and "save" it from itself. There was even a moment when everyone involved in the deal was singing "kumbaya" and both Microsoft and Activision Blizzard execs were talking a good game about getting along and looking forward to working with one another.
On the outside, it looked like just any other big business deal. That doesn't mean that there weren't reasons to be concerned. Talk of the size of the monopoly that Microsoft was going to be once the deal went all the way through started almost immediately. But there's an even seedier underbelly when it comes to ABK and its CEO, Bobby Kotick.
Activision Blizzard has had a very bad couple of years, by really any measure. Sure there have been a few titles to come out of the development studios that had good sales numbers but that's not the be-all and end-all. The fact of the matter is that when most people think about Kotick's company, they likely think about a place that has such an allegedly toxic work environment that multiple states filed lawsuits against them. Some of Activision Blizzard's own investors launched a lawsuit as well.
The lawsuit is bad enough for any company, but there are some firms that might be able to come out the other ends simply saying that the allegations were overblown or flat out wrong. Some other firms can get away with a small settlement aimed at the very specific people who were affected by this kind of toxic work environment.
That's not to say a company being in a situation where those kinds of allegations happen are ever good. But it doesn't appear there have been too many companies in the video game industry that have had allegations like this be so prevalent as Activision Blizzard. That certainly seems to be underlined by the fact that just one day before this massive deal was announced, the higher-ups at Activision announced the firing of 37 employees and the disciplining of 44 others for misconduct.
It would be a pretty impressive task to find anyone in the video game community who can recall a time when a company in the industry announced misconduct discipline for 81 employees at the same time. It certainly seems as if this kind of move is akin to admitting that things were very, very wrong for a very long time. However, it also seems like a move, paired with the big news the very next day that the company was trying to signal that everything was better now that Microsoft had come along.
Sweeping Things Under The Rug Not An Option
It is always possible that both Xbox and ABK were hoping that the news of the deal would at least blunt the talk about the latter company's workplace issues. That could certainly be inferred from Microsoft boss Satya Nadella's comments about Bobby Kotick on an earnings call right after the acquisition was made public. On that call, Nadella said he was "grateful" for Kotick's work trying to change things for the better at the Call of Duty maker. That certainly raised a few eyebrows but in the long run, it probably just made it all the more important that Xbox eventually really and truly address the situation.
After all, Xbox hasn't always stayed above the fray and ignored what was going on with Kotick's firm. It was just a week ago that Phil Spencer went public with comments about how his company would have to reevaluate its relationship with Activision. People are unlikely to just forget those comments now that the two entities are to become one. If anything, it's likely those comments will be brought up over and over, to Spencer.
There is also an ABK workers strike that Spencer is going to have to deal with. The workers alliance that is leading that strike wasted no time in reminding everyone involved that it is around and paying close attention to what happens next. And what happens "next" needs to be Spencer, and several other higher-ups at Xbox, addressing the massive elephant in the room that is everything that has gone wrong at Activision Blizzard over the last few years.
The company cannot, in any uncertain terms take any more steps or issue any more statements that make it look like it is ok with how any number of different controversies were handled by Kotick and his regime. There are already some people who were directly impacted by that toxic work environment who are worried that everything is going to get swept under the rug.
It's important to note the reason lawsuits were filed and investigations have been ongoing and why more than 81 Activision Blizzard employees have either lost their jobs or been punished in some other way. Real people were hurt by Activision Blizzard's actions and inaction both. At the moment, Microsoft looks like a white knight riding in to save a struggling company to some. In order to continue to be held up as someone who can fix everything that's gone wrong, the company has to really and truly address the controversies and outline what it plans to do.
To be fair, despite the comments from Nadella praising Kotick, there are reports flying around that the ABK chief is absolutely on his way out once the deal officially goes through. That's a very good start. But that move may not come until the summer of next year. Spencer and his gang can't wait that long to talk about how not only is what happened at Activision Blizzard not acceptable, but they also need to outline exactly how they are going to avoid it ever happening again under their watch.