Activision Blizzard stock still a buy for many amid controversies

Activision Blizzard is one of the biggest gaming developers and publishers, but they’ve had a bad run fairly recently. This is all about to change fairly soon.

Up until the Microsoft acquisition got announced, Activision Blizzard was looking fairly down and out. Dipping Call of Duty revenues, a slew of sexual harassment scandals, and delays to their major games all took their toll. However, with Microsoft’s buyout now coming up soon there’s a lot of reasons to be enthusiastic about Activision Blizzard stock. It looks like it’s still a buy for the time being.

Activision Blizzard Stock Movement

Activision Blizzzard stock slid considerably in recent years. The developer went from the success of games like Modern Warfare to struggling to regularly release non-Call of Duty games. On top of that, Call of Duty wasn’t doing as great as it once was. Their esports games were seeing diminishing figures, with many thinking games like Heroes of the Storm and Overwatch dying.

Things are looking a lot brighter at the moment. New anticipated titles are coming soon in both the Overwatch and Call of Duty franchises. While it wasn’t exactly highly regarded, Blizzard has also managed to publish their first new game in a considerable time. Even without the Microsoft acquisition, things are really starting to look up for the company.

The Microsoft buyout has been approved at a bid of $95 a share. The current price for Activision Blizzard is still sat quite a bit below this! Despite a major company buying out for that price and significant improvements in the companies’ fortunes, this hasn’t been reflected in the price. This makes Activision Blizzard stock a great value or growth pick for esports stocks to invest in.

Even famous Twitch streamer is doubling down on this, buying nearly $2 million in Activision Blizzard stock back in March.

The Buyout

This upcoming acquisition gives a major upside to Activision Blizzard stock. However, it also has some issues. For a start there’s the lingering concern over Microsoft’s size and growth. Buying up more and more companies might make Games Pass a great deal, but it really cuts down on the healthy competition that’s needed in gaming or any other industry. However, regulators look set to be fine with the continued expansion as the increase in revenue will bring Microsoft closer in line with Tencent and Sony as the most profitable gaming companies.

Ongoing troubles with Activision Blizzard

Those are all good reasons why Activision Blizzard is a good buy at the moment, but what about the problems? Once of the major ones is the continued sexual harassment scandals. On top of that, The CEO, who many deeply associate with the problems, isn’t doing a great job of staying out of the limelight. This alongside with more revelations about senor staff could continue to cause problems.

One concern is how much control over gaming consoles this would give Microsoft. It could put them in a position to lock an unhealthy portion of the gaming scene on the Xbox. However, they have made it clear this isn’t the main goal. Games like Call of Duty and Overwatch will remain on multiple platforms.

The buyout definitely adds significant value to Activision Blizzard stock. It’ll be worth watching as it draws closer, to see if value starts to be show in the stock price too.