Microsoft Wanted to Buy Zynga Before Activision

Microsoft, one of the biggest in the gaming industry, recently announced its intention to buy Activision Blizzard, another giant of the gaming world. US Federal Trade Commission had entered into a legal process with

In one of the statements in that case, the Silicon Valley giant once FarmVille And Words with Friends It was learned that the producer of popular mobile games such as Zynga had considered buying Zynga, but ultimately gave up on it.

Why did Microsoft want to buy Zynga?

While Microsoft is in a strong position in console and PC gaming with its Xbox and Windows platforms, it has lagged behind in mobile gaming. According to Xbox CEO Phil Spencer, Microsoft had a very small footprint in the mobile gaming industry and was looking to strengthen its position. He wanted to buy a big factor in the mobile gaming space.

Zynga was also one of Microsoft’s potential targets, as it is one of the largest and most successful mobile game developers and publishers in the world. Founded in 2007, Zynga gained fame on Facebook with its social games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars. Later, it acquired studios like NaturalMotion and Gram Games and released hit games like Words with Friends and CSR Racing. dominated the game industry for many years.

Zynga in 2021 More than 100 million monthly active users And With more than $1.9 billion in revenue had a strong portfolio of mobile games. The company also has a long history of working with Microsoft, as some of its games are available on Windows Phone and Windows 10 devices.

So why couldn’t Microsoft buy Zynga?

Despite Microsoft spending “a lot of time” on their deal to buy Zynga, the company ultimately decided not to move forward, Spencer said. Spencer to make a significant impact on Microsoft’s mobile gaming strategy “Something bigger than Zynga“They said they needed it.

Although this information remains in the background, Activision Blizzard is also a huge publisher in the mobile game industry. In fact, it has more than 250 million monthly active players alone. Owning King studio, creator of Candy Crush enough reason in itself.

Therefore, one of the reasons behind Microsoft wanting to buy Activision Blizzard is also to get a big slice of the big pie in the mobile gaming industry. Because Activision Blizzard also Call of Duty: Mobile and Diablo Immortal It also has other popular mobile games such as

In short, Microsoft will release Activision Blizzard in January 2022. $68.7 billion announced its intention to buy, and wanted to sign the largest acquisition in the history of the game industry. However, the company faced the US Federal Trade Commission, which sought an injunction to block the deal on antitrust grounds.

As a result, Zynga was not bought by Microsoft, but found another buyer. In May 2022, Take-Two Interactive, the distributor of Grand Theft Auto and many other popular games, launched Zynga. will buy for $12.7 billion explained.