It appears the jury is still out as to whether Microsoft’s seismic $68.7 billion merger with Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard represented good value for money.
During an on-stage interview at Bloomberg Tech 2026, Xbox CEO Asha Sharma was asked whether the deal—which currently stands as the largest video game acquisition in history—is paying off. Despite praising the company itself, she notably failed to provide an affirmative answer.
“I don’t know anybody in entertainment who wouldn’t want Call of Duty, which is now grossing in more revenue than [the] Marvel Cinematic Universe; who wouldn’t want one of the top three apps in the world in Candy Crush; who wouldn’t want World of Warcraft; who wouldn’t want a team that for 20 years has been able to create predictable hits every single year,” said Sharma.
“I love Activision Blizzard King. Look, it was bought at a time before ChatGPT. It was bought at a time when our strategy was predominantly on the core consoles. It was a time when we were right in the middle of COVID. So it’s hard to say how to think about those decisions, but I think these are incredible assets and we continue to invest in them.”
Microsoft has sanctioned four major rounds of layoffs since completing its merger with Activision Blizzard in 2023.
Those cuts included widespread redundancies across Xbox Game Studios, with the company eliminating 1,900 roles in 2024 before shuttering key studios such as Arkane Austin, Alpha Dog Games, and Tango Gameworks (the latter of which was eventually salvaged by Krafton).
It then laid off another 650 video game workers in September 2024.
In July 2025, Microsoft reportedly laid off 4 percent of its total workforce, with those cuts impacting studios and divisions such as King, Zenimax, and The Initiative.
Xbox hardware sales have also failed to set the world alight since the merger concluded and remain in steady decline.
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