EXPLAINER: Microsoft’s Activision buy could shake up gaming

By MATT O’BRIEN and TALI ARBEL
AP Technology Writers

Microsoft stunned the gaming industry when it announced this week it would buy game publisher Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, a deal that would immediately make it a larger video-game company than Nintendo. Microsoft, maker of the Xbox gaming system, said the deal would be good for gamers and advance its ambitions for the metaverse — a vision for creating immersive virtual worlds for both work and play. But how will the deal affect for the millions of people who play video games? And will it actually happen at a time of increased government scrutiny over giant mergers in the U.S. and elsewhere?