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An Excerpt from Bobby Kotick's Email to Staff

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Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick sent an email to staff regarding Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

We learn that the transaction will take a long time to complete and won't happen before June 30, 2023. Until then, Activision Blizzard will continue to operate autonomously.

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What's next

Transactions like these take a long time to complete. Until we receive all the necessary regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions are satisfied, which we expect to be sometime in Microsoft's fiscal 2023 year ending June 30, 2023, we will continue to operate completely autonomously. I will continue as our CEO with the same passion and enthusiasm I had when I began this amazing journey in 1991.

Of course, this announcement will give rise to so many questions. We will host numerous forums and events to make certain we address your concerns.

I am incredibly proud of this company, you, ad the work we have done together. Now it's on to our next chapter and the endless possibilities this transaction represents for us. I couldn't be more appreciative of your efforts, focus, and the dedication to connecting the world through joy and fun.

Source: Jason Schreier's Twitter

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What an utter *filtered* god damn joke! He couldn't handle it, and pawned it off to someone bigger. The bigger person is less connected to the community. This is disgusting!!!!!!!!!   I truly hope that the community responds correctly. First thing that happens in buyouts, loss of lower staff, and hire new personnel. Due to the fact they are cheaper. I hope to god, I am not the only one collegially educated that realizes this.

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What this translate to is...

Bobby Kotick will likely remain as CEO of Activision-Blizzard until the deal is 100% finalized (no later than June 30th 2023). After that, his *filtered* is gone! (unless he's fired before that)

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11 minutes ago, Meurik said:

What this translate to is...

Bobby Kotick will likely remain as CEO of Activision-Blizzard until the deal is 100% finalized (no later than June 30th 2023). After that, his *filtered* is gone! (unless he's fired before that)

The question remains whether he and his business partners will be truly gone after that, or he could be moved to just stay as a member of the board, just not as CEO.

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1 hour ago, Staff said:

I will continue as our CEO with the same passion and enthusiasm I had when I began this amazing journey in 1991.

so he will abuse and rape his workers until 2023? just prison that man already he threatened the workers enough.

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16 hours ago, Pretacon said:

What an utter *filtered* god damn joke! He couldn't handle it, and pawned it off to someone bigger. The bigger person is less connected to the community. This is disgusting!!!!!!!!!   I truly hope that the community responds correctly. First thing that happens in buyouts, loss of lower staff, and hire new personnel. Due to the fact they are cheaper. I hope to god, I am not the only one collegially educated that realizes this.

Wow. Relax. 

Microsoft has done nothing but good for the games I play that they've bought. 

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On 1/19/2022 at 3:23 AM, Znifler said:

Wow. Relax. 

Microsoft has done nothing but good for the games I play that they've bought. 

 I agree that person was overreacting, but please don't forget that Microsoft's anticompetitive practices have set gaming back by years - repeatedly.  By undermining opengl - not by building a better product but by bribing companies not to use opengl - they have done more harm than good for gaming.  And it's not limited to opengl and gaming - they've been an enemy of open source development since day 1, and have been on the forefront of capitalizing on user data.  

Microsoft is not anyone's friend.  They are, like Activision, concerned with profit first - and if they ever get the opportunity to make a game worse to increase profit, they will do it without a second thought.  This purchase is another step towards the gaming industry experiencing the same monopolization as social media, online shopping, food production, etc.  I have a hard time believing it will be positive for anyone but Microsoft.

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45 minutes ago, thurk said:

Microsoft is not anyone's friend.  They are, like Activision, concerned with profit first - and if they ever get the opportunity to make a game worse to increase profit, they will do it without a second thought. 

That sounds like any company in existence.

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On 1/18/2022 at 12:11 PM, Pretacon said:

What an utter *filtered* god damn joke! He couldn't handle it, and pawned it off to someone bigger. The bigger person is less connected to the community. This is disgusting!!!!!!!!!   I truly hope that the community responds correctly. First thing that happens in buyouts, loss of lower staff, and hire new personnel. Due to the fact they are cheaper. I hope to god, I am not the only one collegially educated that realizes this.

You don't even correctly use "collegially" and you expect anyone to take you seriously? Go get lost on another forum.

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On 1/20/2022 at 9:03 PM, Raffinaddi said:

That sounds like any company in existence.

Excactly my thought. Why wouldn't a company be conserned about money, and money only. They need to stay afloat. It's the sole reason a company excists, unless it's a non-profit.

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