Microsoft and Activision form new Blizzard team to expand iconic franchises

• Employees from Microsoft’s King subsidiary have updated their LinkedIn profiles, indicating a shift in their career focus

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Microsoft and Activision have approved the formation of a new team within Blizzard, primarily made up of employees from King. 

As reported by Windows Central, the move reflects Microsoft’s intention to actively support and expand Blizzard’s popular franchises such as Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo, and Overwatch a little more than Activision had done previously, before their historic $69 billion acquisition. 

It’s clear that post aquisition Microsoft now feels able to give their extensive franchise catalogue a little more mobile love and several employees from Microsoft’s King subsidiary have updated their LinkedIn profiles, indicating a shift in their career focus. 

A new mobile-focused team

Microsoft and Activision’s new team within Blizzard is focused on developing smaller games based on existing Blizzard franchises, and given the presence of King staff on board, these new developments being for mobile platforms increasingly looks like a certainty.

This new team presents an ideal opportunity for Microsoft to create more mobile spin-offs of their major franchises and expand the reach of beloved Blizzard universes in ways that Blizzard (and parent Microsoft) haven’t been able to previously.

It’s an approach that aligns with Microsoft’s broader strategy to enhance their presence across platforms and make their franchises more accessible to a wider audience, and one which makes good on Microsoft’s ‘it’s all about mobile’ aquisition claims.

And with King’s mobile expertise, these games could be aimed at supporting Xbox’s mobile games store for Android and iOS.