Microsoft's Activision buy may see more metaverse in the office and crypto in gaming
A lot was said about the metaverse when the Microsoft deal to acquire Activision Blizzard was announced in January 2022. The attention mainly was on business communications, rather than gaming. If public statements and leaked documents are any guide, the Activision deal could promise more for the future of crypto than the metaverse.
The metaverse had high visibility in Microsoft’s announcement of its deal for Activision in January 2002. “This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft’s gaming business […] and will provide building blocks for the metaverse,” Microsoft said in the first paragraph. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “Gaming […] will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms” a few paragraphs later.
Nadella elaborated on his vision for metaverse development in an interview the following month. Nadella told the Financial Times:
Nadella’s emphasis on work is telling. He listed four things and referred to them as “all three” – apparently “meetings and games” count as one. Microsoft’s metaverse platform, Mesh, which began previews this month, is positioned as a complement to its Teams business communications platform.
Mesh contains a gaming component too. While promising “you will transform your two-dimensional (2D) meeting into a 3D immersive experience,” it added:
The metaverse went unmentioned in the Microsoft Gaming statements at the beginning and completion of the deal on Oct. 13, and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer made it clear later in 2022 that his enthusiasm for it was weaker.
Related: FTC opposes Microsoft’s metaverse-focused Activision Blizzard purchase
Spencer questioned what the metaverse even is in an interview with Bloomberg in August. “My view on Metaverse is that
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