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74-654: On September 7, 2018, Activision Blizzard announced that domestic game livestream platform Huya, Inc. had purchased an expansion team based in Chengdu, later revealed as Chengdu Hunters, for the Overwatch League 's second season. While the team was owned by Huya, they would be operated by Chinese esports organization Royal Never Give Up . The Hunters signed an all-Chinese roster and staff, aside from two Taiwanese members, which would be led by head coach Wang "RUI" Xingrui. Chengdu's first ever regular season OWL match

148-479: A $ 30,000 grant to use in their veteran job placement activities. The goal of CODE is to help 100,000 US and UK veterans find high-quality jobs by 2024. The endowment helps soldiers transition to civilian careers after their military service by funding nonprofit organizations and raising awareness of the value veterans bring to the workplace. Worlds, Inc. was issued several United States patents around 2009 related to "System and method for enabling users to interact in

222-520: A 24.4% stake in the company overall. In addition, Kotick remained the president and CEO, with Brian Kelly taking over as chairman . On October 12, 2013, shortly after approval from the Delaware Supreme Court , the company completed the buyback, along the lines of the original plan. Vivendi sold half its remaining stake on May 22, 2014, reducing its ownership to 5.8%. and completely exited two years later. Activision Blizzard released

296-427: A countersuit against the two, accusing the pair of being "self-serving schemers". Activision later sought to add Electronic Arts to their suit, discovering that Zampella and West had been in discussions with them while still working for Activision, and further added claims against Zampella and West that the two had not returned all material related to Call of Duty while they were working at Respawn. A separate lawsuit

370-584: A group of investors led by Bobby Kotick bought the company. Kotick instituted a large restructuring to reduce debt, including renaming the company back to Activision and moving it to Santa Monica, California. By 1997 the company was profitable again. Kotick spent the next decade expanding Activision's products through acquisitions of around 25 studios. This resulted in Activision publishing several successful series of games, including Tony Hawk's , Call of Duty , and Guitar Hero . However, by around 2006,

444-417: A new title, Destiny , on September 9, 2014. The game made over $ 500 million in retail sales on the first day of release, setting a record for the biggest first day launch of a new gaming franchise. On November 5, 2013, the company released Call of Duty: Ghosts , which was written by screenwriter Stephen Gaghan . On its first release day the game sold $ 1 billion into retail. In 2014, Activision Blizzard

518-527: A parent company material influence if they are the largest individual shareholder or if they are placed in control of the running of the operation by non-operational shareholders.) In the United Kingdom, the term holding company is defined by the Companies Act 2006 at section 1159. It defines a holding company as a company that holds a majority of the voting rights in another company, or

592-541: A prior two-year deal with Twitch for the Overwatch League had concluded. The deal with YouTube was estimated to be valued at US$ 160 million , double what it had with Twitch. Since 2009, when Kotick launched Call of Duty Endowment (CODE), over 50,000 veterans have been placed in high-quality jobs. In 2013 CODE started the "Seal of Distinction" program, which recognizes non-profit organizations that are successful in placing veterans in good jobs. Winners receive

666-540: A separate patent infringement lawsuit in October 2013, asserting that Worlds, Inc. was using two Activision-owned patents in its Worlds Player software, but this suit was dismissed with prejudice by June 2014. In Worlds, Inc. case against Activision, the judge issued a summary judgement in Activision's favor, as they had demonstrated that Worlds, Inc. had demonstrated the technologies of their patents in their client programs AlphaWorld and World Chat , released before

740-746: A virtual space", which generally described a method of server/client communications for multiplayer video games, where players would communicate through avatars . In early 2009, Worlds, Inc. stated its intent to challenge publishers and developers of MMOs, naming Activision as one of its intended targets. Worlds, Inc. had already challenged NCSoft for its MMOs in 2008. The companies ultimately settled out of court by 2010. Worlds, Inc. launched its formal lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, including both Blizzard Entertainment and Activision Publishing, in March 2012, stating that Call of Duty and World of Warcraft infringed on their patents. Activision Publishing filed

814-499: Is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own stock of other companies to form a corporate group . In some jurisdictions around the world, holding companies are called parent companies , which, besides holding stock in other companies, can conduct trade and other business activities themselves. Holding companies reduce risk for

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888-643: Is a member of another company and has the right to appoint or remove a majority of its board of directors, or is a member of another company and controls alone, pursuant to an agreement with other members, a majority of the voting rights in that company. After the financial crisis of 2007–2008 , many U.S. investment banks converted to holding companies. According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council 's website, JPMorgan Chase , Bank of America , Citigroup , Wells Fargo , and Goldman Sachs were

962-478: Is defined by Part 1, Section 5, Subsection 1 of the Companies Act, which states: 5.—(1) For the purposes of this Act, a corporation shall, subject to subsection (3), be deemed to be a subsidiary of another corporation, if — In the United Kingdom, is generally held that an organisation holding a 'controlling stake' in a company (a holding of over 51% of the stock) is in effect the de facto parent company of

1036-548: Is re-reviewing the IPRs in consideration of the Federal Circuit's ruling. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2021, when a US district court ruled that "Worlds' patents were abstract ideas that were not sufficiently transformative to be legally patentable." In early 2010, Activision fired Vince Zampella and Jason West, two of the founders of its studio Infinity Ward , on the basis of "breaches of contract and insubordination";

1110-661: The Atlanta Reign in the first round of the double-elimination tournament . However consecutive losses to the Dallas Fuel and San Francisco Shock ended their playoff run. In January 2023, the Hunters posted on their Twitter , "Goodbye and see you again." The post followed the end of the licensing agreement between Activision Blizzard and NetEase , which disallowed Overwatch 2 to be played in China. On April 13, 2023,

1184-563: The CEO of the French media conglomerate Vivendi . Vivendi at that time had the games division Vivendi Games , a holding company principally for Sierra Entertainment and Blizzard Entertainment . Kotick wanted to get access to Blizzard's World of Warcraft , a successful MMO, and suggested a means to acquire this to Lévy. Lévy instead offered that he would be willing to merge Vivendi Games with Activision, but only if Vivendi kept majority control of

1258-557: The COVID-19 pandemic , the Hunters were not able to play their first match of the season several months after the season officially began. Prior to the final midseason tournament of the season, the Countdown Cup , Chen Murong was signed as the team's new co-head, replacing Wu "Dokkaebi" Xiuqing. Chengdu finished the season in sixth, out of seventh, place in the league's Asia region, with an effective 8–14 record. The Hunters defeated

1332-616: The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) filed a suit alleging sexual harassment , employment discrimination and retaliation on the part of Activision Blizzard. A second lawsuit was filed against the company by its shareholders asserting it falsified knowledge of these problems in their financial statements, though this suit was dismissed due to failure to meet thresholds for claims, The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had also filed suit against Activision-Blizzard from their own investigation of

1406-600: The Game Workers Alliance (GWA) with the support of Campaign to Organize Digital Employees-CWA and voted to unionize with a count of 19 – 2 in favor. The National Labor Relations Board recognized GWA as a union. Following the Raven Software's successful unionization, the 20-member QA team of Blizzard Albany announced a unionization drive in July 2022 as GWA Albany. The vote passed (14–0), forming

1480-522: The Guangzhou Charge . In the offseason preceding the 2020 season, head coach Wang "RUI" Xingrui announced that he would be stepping down from his position due to health issues. The Hunters promoted assistant coach Chang "Ray" Chia-Hua and signed former LGE.Huya head coach Wu "Dokkaebi" Xiuqing as the team's new co-head coaches. Chengdu made several roster changes prior to the season, including officially signing rookie Xin "Leave" Huang . Due to

1554-610: The London Spitfire in the first round of the Asia play-in tournament ; however, they lost to the New York Excelsior in the following round, ending their season. Entering the 2021 season, Xingrui "RUI" Wang was brought back as the team's new head coach. The Hunters six players in the offseason, all of whom were rookies. Additionally, the Hunters ended their partnership with Royal Never Give Up, who had been operating

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1628-481: The broadcast licenses to reflect this, resulting in stations that are (for example) still licensed to Jacor and Citicasters , effectively making them such as subsidiary companies of their owner iHeartMedia . This is sometimes done on a per- market basis. For example, in Atlanta both WNNX and later WWWQ are licensed to "WNNX LiCo, Inc." (LiCo meaning "license company"), both owned by Susquehanna Radio (which

1702-442: The shareholders , and can permit the ownership and control of a number of different companies. The New York Times uses the term parent holding company . Holding companies can be subsidiaries in a tiered structure . Holding companies are also created to hold assets such as intellectual property or trade secrets , that are protected from the operating company. That creates a smaller risk when it comes to litigation . In

1776-702: The "toys to life" category. On September 15, 2015, Activision and Bungie released Destiny: The Taken King , the follow-up to the Destiny saga. Two days later, Sony announced that the game broke the record for the most downloaded day-one game in PlayStation history, in terms of both total players and peak online concurrency. Activision Blizzard acquired social gaming company King , creator of casual game Candy Crush Saga , for $ 5.9 billion in November 2015. In November 2015, Activision Blizzard announced

1850-498: The 1995 priority date, though this was related to filing irregularities that were subsequently corrected by the Patent Office. Activision did not challenge the updated patents through an inter partes review (IPR), and subsequently after a statutory one-year waiting period, Worlds, Inc. filed a subsequently lawsuit against Activision, asserting Call of Duty: Ghosts violated their resolved patents. Later, Worlds, Inc. stated

1924-603: The Bungie IPRs that portions of Worlds, Inc. patents were invalid. Worlds, Inc. appealed to the Federal Circuit Appeals Court , challenging the validity of the IPRs due to the lack of Activision's involvement. The Federal Circuit court ruled in favor of Worlds, Inc. in September 2018, invalidating the Patent Office's decision. Worlds, Inc.'s case presently remains at the Patent Office stage, which

1998-481: The Overwatch League announced that the Hunters would not be competing at the start of the 2023 season . On May 3, 2023, The Esports Advocate reported that the Chengdu Hunters had been disbanded. On November 12, 2018, the Chengdu Hunters brand was officially unveiled. The team name was chosen "as a symbol of the team’s dedication to pursuing the honor of the league." The logo, a black and gold giant panda ,

2072-525: The Sand . However, a number of Sierra's games such as Crash Bandicoot , Spyro , and Prototype were retained and are now published by Activision. In early 2010, the independent studio Bungie entered into a 10-year publishing agreement with Activision Blizzard. By the end of 2010, Activision Blizzard was the largest video games publisher in the world. The 2011 release of Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 grossed $ 400 million in

2146-707: The Storm , Overwatch , StarCraft , World of Warcraft , and Candy Crush Saga . Under Blizzard Entertainment, it invested in esports initiatives around several of its games, most notably Overwatch and Call of Duty . Activision Blizzard's titles have broken a number of release records. As of March 2018 , it was the largest game company in the Americas and Europe in terms of revenue and market capitalization. The company has also been involved in multiple notable controversies, including allegations of infringed patents and unpaid royalties. In late July 2021, it

2220-554: The US and UK alone in its first 24 hours, making it the biggest entertainment launch of all time. It was also the third consecutive year the Call of Duty series broke the biggest launch record; 2010's Call of Duty: Black Ops grossed $ 360 million on day one; and 2009's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 brought in $ 310 million. Call of Duty: Black Ops III grossed $ 550 million in worldwide sales during its opening weekend in 2015, making it

2294-614: The United States' Federal Trade Commission and the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority have challenged the merger as anticompetitive and have initiated legal procedures in their respective countries. To resolve these issues, Microsoft agreed to give rights to cloud gaming of Activision Blizzard's games to Ubisoft , which was cleared by regulators. The acquisition was completed on October 13, 2023. The last time Activision Blizzard reported their annual financial results for its shareholders before Microsoft acquired them

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2368-446: The United States, 80% of stock, in voting and value, must be owned before tax consolidation benefits such as tax-free dividends can be claimed. That is, if Company A owns 80% or more of the stock of Company B, Company A will not pay taxes on dividends paid by Company B to its stockholders, as the payment of dividends from B to A is essentially transferring cash within a single enterprise. Any other shareholders of Company B will pay

2442-443: The acquisition was intended to bolster Activision Blizzard's push into esports, as well as its plan to develop an esports cable channel . Reports indicated that MLG would be shuttered and that the majority of the purchase price would go towards paying off the company's debt. Activision Blizzard acquired MLG on January 4, 2016 for $ 46 million. In November 2016, Blizzard Entertainment, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, announced

2516-640: The biggest entertainment launch of the year. In 2011, Activision Blizzard debuted its Skylanders franchise, which led to the press crediting the company with inventing and popularizing a new toys-to-life category. The first release Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure was nominated for two Toy Industry Association awards in 2011: "Game of the Year" and "Innovative Toy of the Year". Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure and its sequels were released for major consoles and PC, and many were released on mobile devices as well. On July 25, 2013, Activision Blizzard announced

2590-723: The collaboration of the two companies. Season MVP Role Star selections All-Star Game selections On January 27, 2019, LinGan e-Sports Club announced their partnership with the Chengdu Hunters and became the academy team. LinGan e-Sports changed the name of their Overwatch team to LGE.Huya. Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California . Activision Blizzard currently includes five business units: Activision Publishing , Blizzard Entertainment , King , Major League Gaming , and Activision Blizzard Studios . Founded in July 2008 through

2664-538: The company as chief marketing officer (CMO). The company also announced in April 2021 that Kotick will remain CEO through April 2023, through Kotick agreed to take a 50% cut of his pay, equal to $ 875,000 . Kotick will remain eligible to receive annual bonuses, and while he agreed to reduce his target bonus by 50% as well, he potentially can earn up to 200% of his base pay based on the company's performance. On July 20, 2021,

2738-457: The company had seen a record year in revenue, they would be laying off around 775 people or around 8% of their workforce in non-management divisions, "de-prioritizing initiatives that are not meeting expectations and reducing certain non-development and administrative-related costs across the business", according to Kotick. Kotick stated that they plan to put more resources towards their development teams and focus on esports, Battle.net services, and

2812-467: The company's properties. Activision Blizzard Distribution provides logistical support for Activision Blizzard's distribution within Europe. Activision Blizzard owns the Call of Duty and StarCraft franchises, both of which have been popular as esports . On October 21, 2015, Activision Blizzard announced the upcoming establishment of a new esports division. Named Activision Blizzard Media Networks,

2886-608: The deal closed the next day for an estimated transaction amount of US$ 18.9 billion. Vivendi became the combined company's majority shareholder at 54% of outstanding shares, equating to 52% if shares were to be fully diluted. The rest of the shares were held by institutional and private investors, and were to be left open for trading on the NASDAQ stock market for a time under the ticker symbol ATVID, and subsequently as ATVI (Activision's stock ticker). At this point, Lévy replaced René Penisson as chairman of Activision Blizzard. The merger

2960-415: The division is led by sports executive Steve Bornstein and Major League Gaming (MLG) co-founder Mike Sepso , with assets from the acquisition of the now defunct IGN Pro League . Bornstein was appointed the new division's chairman. On December 31, 2015, it was reported that "substantially all" of Major League Gaming's assets would be acquired by Activision Blizzard. The New York Times reported that

3034-403: The end of May 2012. All settlements were made for undisclosed amounts. In May 2024, families affected by the 2022 Uvalde school shooting filed a lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, alongside Meta and the gun manufacturer. The suit against Activision Blizzard alleged that they promoted specific brands of guns to teens through Call of Duty . Holding company A holding company

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3108-431: The firm, having overriding material influence over the held company's operations, even if no formal full takeover has been enacted. Once a full takeover or purchase is enacted, the held company is seen to have ceased to operate as an independent entity but to have become a tending subsidiary of the purchasing company, which, in turn, becomes the parent company of the subsidiary. (A holding below 50% could be sufficient to give

3182-458: The first body) is a subsidiary of another body corporate if, and only if: Toronto-based lawyer Michael Finley has stated, "The emerging trend that has seen international plaintiffs permitted to proceed with claims against Canadian parent companies for the allegedly wrongful activity of their foreign subsidiaries means that the corporate veil is no longer a silver bullet to the heart of a plaintiff's case." The parent subsidiary company relationship

3256-605: The five largest bank holding companies in the finance sector, as of December 2013 , based on total assets. The Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935 caused many energy companies to divest their subsidiary businesses. Between 1938 and 1958 the number of holding companies declined from 216 to 18. An energy law passed in 2005 removed the 1935 requirements, and has led to mergers and holding company formation among power marketing and power brokering companies. In US broadcasting , many major media conglomerates have purchased smaller broadcasters outright, but have not changed

3330-455: The following requirements are met: A parent company is a company that owns enough voting power in another firm (or subsidiary ) to control management and operations by influencing or electing its board of directors . The definition of a parent company differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, with the definition normally being defined by way of laws dealing with companies in that jurisdiction. When an existing company establishes

3404-645: The formation of Activision Blizzard Studios , a film production arm that would produce films and television series based on Activision Blizzard's franchises. The outfit is co-headed by producer Stacey Sher and former The Walt Disney Company executive Nick van Dyk. In June 2017, Activision Blizzard joined the Fortune 500 becoming the third gaming company in history to make the list after Atari and Electronic Arts . In its 2018 fiscal year earnings call to shareholders in February 2019, Kotick stated that while

3478-519: The intent to add Bungie to the lawsuit contending that Destiny also fell afoul of their patents. Bungie subsequently filed three IPRs with the Patent Office for each of the three Worlds, Inc. patents at the core of the lawsuit. While Bungie initially won its IPR ruling at the USPTO, on appeal in September 2018, Worlds, Inc. won a ruling questioning whether Bungie had legal standing to file its IPRs. The new Worlds, Inc. case against Activision Blizzard

3552-564: The launch of Overwatch League , a professional video gaming league. The league's first season began during the second half of 2017 with 12 teams. The league's structure is based on traditional sports structures, including recruiting traditional sports executives as team owners, such as Robert Kraft , owner of the New England Patriots , and Jeff Wilpon , COO of the New York Mets . The inaugural Overwatch Grand Finals

3626-477: The merged company. According to those close to Kotick, Kotick was concerned about this offer as it would force him to cede control of Activision. However, after talking to Blizzard's CEO Mike Morhaime , Kotick recognized that Vivendi would be able to give them inroads into the growing video game market in China. Kotick proposed the merger to Activision's board, which agreed to it in December 2007. The new company

3700-486: The merger of Activision, Inc. (the publicly traded parent company of Activision Publishing) and Vivendi Games , the company owns and operates additional subsidiary studios, as part of Activision Publishing, including Treyarch , Infinity Ward , and High Moon Studios . Among major intellectual properties produced by Activision Blizzard are Call of Duty , Crash Bandicoot , Guitar Hero , Skylanders , Spyro , Tony Hawk's , Diablo , Hearthstone , Heroes of

3774-416: The move caused several other Infinity Ward staff to resign. Zampella and West created a new studio, Respawn Entertainment , with help from Electronic Arts ' partner program, hiring the majority of those that departed Infinity Ward in their wake. Zampella and West filed a lawsuit in April 2010 against Activision, claiming unpaid royalties on the studio's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 . Activision filed

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3848-466: The office full time in 2024. ABK Workers Alliance accused the company of forcing out employees with this decision. On March 8, 2024, 600 QA testers at 3 Activision studios in Austin, Eden Prairie, and El Segundo formed the union "Activision Quality Assurance United-CWA" and voted to unionize (390–8) in favor, making it the largest video game union in the United States. Microsoft voluntarily recognized

3922-505: The popularity of massively multiplayer online (MMO) games started to grow. Such games provide a constant revenue stream to their publishers, rather than only a single purchase, making them a more valuable proposition. None of Activision's subsidiaries had an MMO or the capability to make one quickly. Activision was also facing tougher competition from companies like Electronic Arts , as well as slowdowns in sales of their key game series. Around 2006, Kotick reached out to Jean-Bernard Lévy ,

3996-658: The publisher's core games which include Candy Crush , Call of Duty , Overwatch , Warcraft , Diablo , and Hearthstone . Prior to this, Activision Blizzard and Bungie agreed to terminate their distribution deal with Destiny 2 as it was not bringing in expected revenue for Activision, with Bungie otherwise retaining all rights to Destiny . This transaction allowed Activision Blizzard to report US$ 164 million as part of its 2018 fiscal year filings. The company announced that Daniel Alegre would replace Coddy Johnson as president of Activision Blizzard effective April 7, 2020, with Johnson transitioning to special advisory role. During

4070-401: The purchase of 429 million shares from owner Vivendi for $ 5.83 billion, dropping the shareholder from a 63% stake to 11.8% by the end of the deal in September. At the conclusion of the deal, Vivendi was no longer Activision Blizzard's parent company, and Activision Blizzard became an independent company as a majority of the shares became owned by the public. Bobby Kotick and Brian Kelly retained

4144-633: The second quarter of 2020, the company's net revenues from digital channels reached $ 1.44bn due to the growing demand for online games driven by COVID-19 lockdowns. By January 2021, the company's net value was estimated to be $ 72 billion based on its stock trading price due to the ongoing demand for video games from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia acquired 14.9 million shares of Activision Blizzard, valued at $ 1.4 billion , in February 2021. In April 2021, Fernando Machado, former Brazilian executive at Burger King , joined

4218-468: The second union at an Activision Blizzard subsidiary. In February 2023, Activision Blizzard announced to employees that it would end its full-time remote policy starting between April and June that year. On November 30, quality assurance staffers were told that the company would end its hybrid work model and bring employees in Austin, Texas , Eden Prairie, Minnesota and El Segundo, California back to

4292-414: The team since its inception. The Hunters qualified for three of the league's four midseason tournaments, reaching the finals twice, but they failed to secure a title in any of them. At the end of the regular season, Huang "Leave" Xin won the season's Most Valuable Player award. Chengdu had their best regular season finish in franchise history, placing as the third seed in the season playoffs . They defeated

4366-534: The third-largest gaming company in the world and the largest headquartered in the Americas, behind Chinese company Tencent and the Japanese conglomerate Sony . Activision Blizzard's shareholders approved of the acquisition near-unanimously in April 2022. While the deal has been approved by several countries ahead of the planned October 18, 2023, deal closure, including the European Union and China, both

4440-475: The union. On July 24, 2024, 500 artists, designers, engineers, producers, and quality assurance testers who work on World of Warcraft also voted to unionize. Activision Blizzard is divided into three key business segments: There are also two non-reporting segments within Activision Blizzard. Activision Blizzard Studios oversees the production of film and television entertainment based on

4514-499: The usual taxes on dividends, as they are legitimate and ordinary dividends to these shareholders. Sometimes, a company intended to be a pure holding company identifies itself as such by adding "Holding" or "Holdings" to its name. The parent company–subsidiary company relationship is defined by Part 1.2, Division 6, Section 46 of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) , which states: A body corporate (in this section called

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4588-721: The workplace conditions but the company had settled the same day it was filed, which included setting aside an $ 18 million relief fund for affected employees. Ultimately, the DFEH and Activision Blizzard agreed to a $ 54 million settlement in December 2023 to cover pay and promotion inequities at the company, both agreeing there was no substantial evidence of widespread harassment. On January 18, 2022, Microsoft announced that it would be acquiring Activision Blizzard for $ 68.7 billion in an all-cash deal, or approximately $ 95 per share. Activision Blizzard's stock price jumped nearly 40% that day in pre-market trading. The deal would make Microsoft

4662-405: Was a 3–2 victory over the Guangzhou Charge on February 15, 2019. After posting three consecutive 3–4 records for the first three stages of the season, the Hunters failed to qualify for any of the stage playoffs. Chengdu finished the regular season with a 13–15 record and qualified for the play-in tournament . However, they were eliminated in the first round of the play-in tournament after a loss to

4736-493: Was chosen because "it is the national treasure of China, the symbol of Chengdu, and a symbol of peace and good luck. At the same time, the panda also boasts powerful fighting strength and represents the Chinese spirit of perseverance, and collectively with the team’s name, represents the team’s determination to achieve victory." The colors represent vigor and steadiness, and contain the main colors of Huya and RNG, meant to represent

4810-512: Was completed on July 9. While Blizzard retained its autonomy and corporate leadership in the merger, other Vivendi Games divisions such as Sierra ceased operation. With the merger, Kotick was quoted stating if a Sierra product did not meet Activision's requirements, they "won't likely be retained." Some of these games ultimately were published by other studios, including Ghostbusters: The Video Game , Brütal Legend , The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena , and 50 Cent: Blood on

4884-510: Was completed on October 13, 2023. Activision Blizzard is a subsidiary of Microsoft Gaming along with Xbox Game Studios and ZeniMax Media . The original Activision company was founded in 1979, as a third-party developer for games on the Atari Video Computer System . In 1988 the company expanded into non-gaming software and renamed itself Mediagenic. This venture was not successful, incurring heavy losses. In 1991

4958-492: Was filed against Activision in April 2010 by several current and former members of Infinity Ward on the same basis of lack of unpaid royalties. All parties came to an undisclosed settlement to end all suits by May 2012. Electronic Arts and Activision had settled separately on Activision's charges of poaching employees, while the suits between Activision, Zampella, West, and the Infinity Ward employee group were settled by

5032-453: Was heard on October 3, 2014. With Bungie's IPRs pending at the Patent Office, the judge put the trial on hold pending the outcome of the IPRs. Worlds, Inc. challenged the IPRs at the Patent Office, as they did not include Activision as an interested party, a requirement that would have been necessary given the publisher/developer relationship between Activision and Bungie. The Patent Office did not accept this argument, and subsequently agreed with

5106-474: Was later sold to Cumulus Media ). In determining caps to prevent excessive concentration of media ownership , all of these are attributed to the parent company, as are leased stations , as a matter of broadcast regulation . In the United States, a personal holding company is defined in section 542 of the Internal Revenue Code . A corporation is a personal holding company if both of

5180-487: Was on February 6, 2023. Activision Blizzard reported $ 7.54 billion in revenue and $ 1.52 billion in net income. As part of the acquisition deal, Kotick announced his resignation as CEO the same day, along with other high level executives, though Kotick will remain onboard through the end of 2023 to help with the transition. Bobby Kotick departed Activision Blizzard on December 29, 2023. In May 2022, QA testers of Activision Blizzard subsidiary Raven Software went public as

5254-813: Was played at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in July 2018 and attracted 10.8 million viewers worldwide. The league hopes to have 18 teams competing during the second season in 2019, with the ultimate goal of 28 teams across the world. In 2018, Activision Blizzard signed a multi-year deal with The Walt Disney Company to stream Overwatch League games on both ESPN and Disney XD cable channels. The company also secured an exclusive multi-year deal with Google to stream all subsequent Activision Blizzard esports events, including Call of Duty and Overwatch events, through YouTube , and to use Google's cloud services for its game hosting infrastructure; this came after

5328-528: Was sued by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing on allegations of sexual harassment and employee discrimination. The suit triggered an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission , multiple workplace walkouts , the resignation or dismissal of several employees, the loss of multiple company event sponsors, and hundreds of workplace harassment allegations. Microsoft announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for $ 68.7 billion on January 18, 2022. The acquisition

5402-546: Was the fifth largest gaming company by revenue worldwide, with total assets of US$ 14.746 billion and total equity estimated at US$ 7.513 billion. Activision Blizzard joined the S&;P 500 stock index on August 28, 2015, becoming one of only two companies on the list related to gaming, alongside Electronic Arts . The company released the next iteration of the Skylanders franchise in September 2015, which added vehicles to

5476-513: Was to be named Activision Blizzard and would retain its central headquarters in California. Bobby Kotick of Activision was announced as the new president and CEO, while René Penisson of Vivendi was appointed chairman . The European Commission permitted the merger to take place in April 2008, approving that there weren't any EU antitrust issues in the merger deal. On July 8, 2008, Activision announced that stockholders had agreed to merge, and

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