SOC Investment Group, which owns less than 1% of Activision Blizzard shares, again opposed the publisher’s management. She appealed to the other shareholders to vote against the re-election of half of the company’s board of directors, including CEO Bobby Kotick.

The head of Microsoft’s gaming division said this at a general meeting with Xbox Game Studios employees. Spencer added that a year and a half ago (during the previous meeting) he knew little about trade unions, but now he understood the topic well. In his opinion, unionization is one of the rights of employees.

Such a decision was made by the company’s management due to the fact that loot boxes are banned in both countries. They are considered gambling mechanics in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Some former and current Activision Blizzard employees felt that the publisher was not doing enough to combat discrimination. Therefore, they decided to create a special committee themselves and monitor the company’s actions.

Six months ago, the Communications Workers of America union said that Activision Blizzard allegedly illegally monitors its employees, threatens them and prohibits discussing a number of issues related to working in the company. For example, the salary and working conditions. He also pointed out that the policy regarding social networks is too broad.

Last night, the Raven Software studio successfully voted for the creation of the Game Workers Alliance trade union. 19 people were in favor of unification, and three were against it.

This statement was made by the president of the corporation Brad Smith (Brad Smith) during an interview with the Belgian edition of L’Echo. He said that the deal is already entering the middle phase. But in any case, a lot still needs to be done.

Last July, Activision Blizzard was at the center of a discrimination and harassment scandal. Ten months later, the company stated that the DFEH accusing it violated the requirements for filing a lawsuit.

Activision Blizzard held two important votes yesterday. On one, shareholders evaluated the deal with Microsoft (98% supported it as a result), and on the other, the need for large payments by the company’s top managers if they were fired after the merger.

Activision Blizzard reported on the first quarter of 2022 (ended March 31). Compared to last year, this time the company’s results were much more modest. In the period from January to March, her earnings amounted to $1.77 billion.

Activision Blizzard recognized the problem of attracting personnel. In the context of litigation and increased pressure, it is difficult for a company to retain old and hire new qualified employees. If the difficulties drag on, it will hit the whole business hard.This was reported by Axios with reference to the recently published Activision Blizzard report for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The list of companies that have stopped selling their games in Russia is getting longer. Now it includes Activision Blizzard and Electronic Arts (EA).

A number of human rights organizations have expressed concern about the purchase of Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft plans to make. They demanded that the US Federal Trade Commission carefully study the deal in order to prevent possible consequences for the market. One of the reasons is the direct threat of competition.This is stated in an open letter published on March 1.

Two and a half years ago Activision Blizzard released a mobile version of Call of Duty. Over the past time, gamers have spent over $1.5 billion in it. This allowed Call of Duty: Mobile to become the third highest-grossing mobile shooter in 2021.

Microsoft has published new operating principles for its app store. This is a consequence of the announced deal with Activision Blizzard. The company decided to show regulators its openness and desire to encourage competition. However, so far we are talking only about the PC store.Microsoft announced the changes on February 9 in its official blog.

Several indie developers shared with the BBC their concerns about the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard deal. They stated that a lot of AAA projects are already included in the Game Pass subscription, and after the purchase of the Call of Duty publisher, there will be even more of them. Because of this, small games can simply go unnoticed by gamers.

The meeting of Bobby Kotick with employees, the official position on the future of the Call of Duty series on PlayStation, the fear of mass layoffs and the chances of the revival of old franchises. We tell you the main thing about all the latest news related to the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard deal.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced the purchase of Activision Blizzard for a record $68.7 billion for the gaming industry. As a result, Sony‘s shares collapsed, and information appeared in the media about the possible departure of Bobby Kotick. We tell you what else happened after the news about the deal.

Deal of the year. Microsoft has announced that it has agreed to acquire Activision Blizzard.