Microsoft buys Activision, maker of Diablo, Warcraft, and Call of Duty, for $69 billion

United Kingdom regulators were effectively the last hurdle stopping Microsoft from purchasing Activision Blizzard, in the biggest merger the video game industry has ever seen. That hurdle was cleared this morning as the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority relented to adjusted terms. With the nearly $70 billion purchase now officially complete, Microsoft unveiled a victory blog post, complete with an extended showcase of its now-combined intellectual property with Activision, Blizzard, and King. The CMA’s sticking points included Microsoft’s prospective dominance in the unfolding game streaming market, and Microsoft’s concessions were deep. When it initially blocked the merger early this year, regulators said that the combined publishing giant could effectively monopolize games streamed to consumers without the need for local PCs or consoles, as is already the case with Xbox Game Stream and the all-you-can-eat Game Pass subscription. Microsoft’s concessions to the UK include a block on exclusivity for cloud streaming for all existing Activision games, crucially including the massive Call of Duty shooter franchise. The block will continue for 15 years, with streaming rights sold (or surrendered, depending on your point of view) to French mega-publisher Ubisoft. Significantly, this will allow Call of Duty to be streamed to players on the PlayStation for the foreseeable future. With the UK and EU obstacles out of the way, the United States Federal... Continue reading at 'PC World'

[ PC World | 2023-10-13 14:10:14 UTC ]

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Dana Canedy to Step Down at Simon & Schuster

On July 27, exactly two years to the date since she took over S&S's flagship imprint, Dana Canedy will step down from her position as senior v-p and publisher. Her predecessor, S&S president and CEO Jonathan Karp, will lead the imprint "for the foreseeable future." Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2022-07-19 04:00:00 UTC ]
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That’s yacht fair: Oz lambasts Nine over lavish shindig but fails to mention News Corp role | The Weekly Beast

‘Nine parties it up,’ accuses the Australian, while ignoring corporate hospitality of News Corp execs. Plus: the Tele’s riveting true crime TikToks“Nine parties it up” was the headline on a hit piece in the Australian about rival media company Nine Entertainment. The broadcasting and publishing... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-06-03 02:00:54 UTC ]
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Recommended Reading: The first TikTok war

The myth of the ‘First TikTok War’Kaitlyn Tiffany, The AtlanticThe Russian invasion of Ukraine is playing out over social media, with varying degrees of facts depending on who is delivering the information. Through the lens of previous conflicts, Tiffany examines if the label of "The First... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2022-03-12 15:15:48 UTC ]
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Charlie Brooker: ‘Mr Dystopia? That makes me sound like a wrestler’

As he releases the latest fruits of his new megabucks deal with Netflix – an interactive cartoon about a cat – the Black Mirror creator discusses gaming, nuclear war, and why his generation has wrecked the UKCharlie Brooker is sitting at a desk, a big cardboard box in the background, miscellany... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2022-02-21 06:00:24 UTC ]
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Richard Robinson, longtime Scholastic CEO, dead at 84

The longtime head of the children’s publishing giant Scholastic Inc. who presided over such bestsellers as J Continue reading at ABC News

[ ABC News | 2021-06-07 01:26:31 UTC ]
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Simon & Schuster refuses to distribute book by officer who shot Breonna Taylor

US publishing giant was due to distribute Jonathan Mattingly’s The Fight for Truth for rightwing outlet Post Hill PressSimon & Schuster has said that it will not be distributing a book by one of the police officers who shot Breonna Taylor, after a small publisher whose books are distributed... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2021-04-16 09:27:28 UTC ]
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'Borderlands' developer Gearbox is merging with publishing giant Embracer

Some of the larger independents in the video game world now have a shared home. Embracer Group (aka THQ Nordic) is merging with Gearbox Software, turning the Borderlands studio into a seventh operating group that will serve as a wholly-owned subsidia... Continue reading at Engadget

[ Engadget | 2021-02-03 15:42:53 UTC ]
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A tale of two inaugurations

Four years and a day ago, I boarded a bus with what felt like half of my journalism school class and traveled to Washington, DC, for the inauguration of Donald Trump and the Women’s March the day after. I’d arranged to cover the events for Pacifica radio and ended up writing a short dispatch for... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2021-01-20 13:36:57 UTC ]
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Penguin Random House to purchase Simon & Schuster in massive publishing deal

ViacomCBS has announced plans to sell Simon & Schuster to publishing giant Penguin Random House LLC for a whopping $2.18 billion next year. Continue reading at Los Angeles Times

[ Los Angeles Times | 2020-11-25 21:02:17 UTC ]
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Can a Video Game Express Modernist Values?

AS AN EXPRESSIVE MEDIUM, video games have a strange way of reducing central concepts of modernist art and theory to basic operational elements. The technical specifications of “point of view” that have preoccupied novelists since the turn of the 20th century are crudely literalized within game... Continue reading at Los Angeles Review of Books

[ Los Angeles Review of Books | 2020-10-31 17:00:02 UTC ]
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Condé Nast Pitches Diversity to Advertisers at NewFronts

Publishing giant Cond? Nast is committed to championing more diverse voices, executives told potential advertisers today at the company's virtual NewFronts presentation. The event comes two weeks after charges of racist and biased behavior toward former and current employees who were outspoken... Continue reading at AdWeek

[ AdWeek | 2020-06-23 19:36:48 UTC ]
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Watch: Condé Nast's Pam Drucker Mann on the state of media in the pandemic

In this live episode of Ad Age Remotely, Condé Nast's chief revenue officer discusses how the publishing giant is navigating managing costs and ad revenue.  Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2020-04-30 14:45:12 UTC ]
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Watch live at 10 a.m. EDT: Condé Nast's Pam Drucker Mann on the state of media in the pandemic

In this live episode of Ad Age Remotely, Condé Nast's chief revenue officer discusses how the publishing giant is navigating managing costs and ad revenue.  Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2020-04-30 12:45:12 UTC ]
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Watch live Thursday at 10 a.m. EDT: Condé Nast's Pam Drucker Mann on the state of media in the pandemic

In this live episode of Ad Age Remotely, Condé Nast's chief revenue officer discusses how the publishing giant is navigating managing costs and ad revenue.  Continue reading at Advertising Age

[ Advertising Age | 2020-04-29 22:14:12 UTC ]
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The education revolution

With schools closed for the foreseeable future, and the nation having to adapt quickly to home education, parents are getting to grips with juggling their new home tutor roles - as well as managing their own workloads and coping with the day to day pressures of looking after families during this... Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-04-15 18:45:49 UTC ]
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PRH Audio partners with comic book publisher Rebellion

Penguin Random House UK has announced a new partnership between its audio division and Rebellion, a publisher of comic books, fiction and video games, in response to increasing demand for science fiction audio. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-18 22:09:16 UTC ]
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Pan Macmillan to close office in response to coronavirus

Pan Macmillan has announced it is closing its offices from close of play this Thursday (19th March), "until further notice", and has asked everyone at the company to work from home "for the foreseeable future".  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2020-03-17 01:55:46 UTC ]
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The precarious state of local news giants

Even compared to this year’s other brutal weeks for American journalism, the past seven days have been particularly turbulent. Last Wednesday, the publishing giant McClatchy reported severe liquidity problems along with its third-quarter results; its share price has since collapsed from $2.28 to... Continue reading at Columbia Journalism Review

[ Columbia Journalism Review | 2019-11-20 13:10:34 UTC ]
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404 Ink lands Donnelly book on video games and mental health

Indie 404 Ink has landed a part-memoir, part-investigation of how video games can positively impact mental health from journalist Joe Donnelly. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-10-31 16:31:20 UTC ]
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