Activision Blizzard, Inc.

Activision Blizzard, Inc., American developer and manufacturer of electronic games. The company was formed in 2008 by the merger of Activision, an entertainment software publisher that traced its roots to the original Atari game console, and Vivendi Games, the parent company of Blizzard Entertainment, a PC software publisher best known for the Diablo, Warcraft, and StarCraft franchises and for the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft. At the conclusion of the merger, in which Activision was the senior partner, Vivendi purchased 52 percent of the stock in the newly formed Activision Blizzard. Both Activision and Blizzard maintained distinct corporate identities, with independent development and publishing streams. In January 2022 Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. The company’s corporate headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California.