While much of the gaming industry’s legal attention over the last few years was focused on Epic Games vs Apple and Google, another major battle involving Microsoft’s $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition had quietly continued in the background, and now it finally appears close to ending after three years.
Microsoft has agreed to pay $250 million to settle a shareholder lawsuit tied to its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, according to filings submitted to Delaware’s Court of Chancery.
The case was originally filed in 2022 by Swedish pension fund AP7, which alleged that former Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick rushed the sale process and deprived shareholders of potentially better offers.
Under the proposed settlement, Microsoft will directly cover 40% of the amount, while the remaining 60% will be handled through directors’ and officers’ liability insurance. Shareholders who owned Activision Blizzard stock between January 2022 and the completion of the acquisition in October 2023 may receive around 30 cents per share.
As reported earlier by Game File, the lawsuit had evolved far beyond a simple shareholder payout dispute. Over time, it increasingly revisited the workplace misconduct allegations surrounding Activision Blizzard from 2021.
AP7 argued that the controversy and pressure around Bobby Kotick’s leadership may have pushed the company toward a faster sale to Microsoft. Over time, both sides began pulling in documents, testimony, and investigation materials related to those allegations, although it was eventually settled in late 2023 for $54 million.
The Microsoft-Activision deal itself officially closed in October 2023 after surviving scrutiny from regulators, including the FTC in the United States and the CMA in the United Kingdom. Back in 2023, the FTC had attempted to block the acquisition over competition concerns, but the court denied its request for a preliminary injunction, allowing Microsoft to continue with the deal.
Honestly, this entire case slowly became much bigger than just the acquisition itself. Between the FTC, CMA, and shareholder lawsuits, the Activision Blizzard acquisition probably became one of the most heavily scrutinized gaming deals ever, and yet Microsoft still managed to close it.
With this settlement now proposed, one of gaming’s longest-running and most complicated legal sagas may finally be approaching its conclusion.
