Microsoft's $68.7 billion Activision buyout is largest in game history

Microsoft makes acquisition history for the second time with its near $70 billion buyout offer for Activision-Blizzard.

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Trillion-dollar tech titan Microsoft intends to buy Call of Duty publisher Activision-Blizzard for $68.7 billion. Microsoft is offering to buy all Activision-Blizzard shares at a 45% premium.

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Suffice it to say this is the single largest video games acquisition of all time and beats the previous record holder (Take-Two's $12.7 billion offer for Zynga) by a staggering $56 billion, or 440%.

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To add more perspective on just how big this buyout is, the offer is more than 10x than Grand Theft Auto V has made in its lifetime ($6.4 billion). It's more than EA has earned in the last 10 years ($50.4 billion), and it's even more than Activision-Blizzard themselves have earned in the last 10 years ($63.4 billion).

The deal is more than Sony's Games and Network Services PlayStation division made in the last three years, from FY18 - FY20 ($59.4 billion).

It's also more than Nintendo has made in the 8 years between FY2014 - FY2021 ($67.93 billion).

That's...a lot.

Check below for a quick list of gaming's top billion-dollar acquisitions:

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