This was just more MS propaganda so they could buy Activision and consolidate. Further harming gaming competition. It shouldn't be taken as anything but twisted truth for a profit.
I'm conflicted. On one hand, monopoly is absolutely bad.
On the other hand, Kotick is an abusive, greedy asswipe who is directly responsible for some of the worst trends in AAA gaming; the sooner he gets the boot, the better we all are.
My conflict lies more with how Sony fucked up gaming with their exclusive deals for the last decade or so and now Microsoft is pulling the Uno reverse on them, where I as a PC gamer lean more towards Microsoft. That's the part of this merger I personally like to a degree.
And is it confirmed that Kotick will leave after ActiBlizz bought by MS?
Usually for big company purchase like this, the key people will be kept and/or integrated to main company
He's reported he wants to leave. Because he'll become an even bigger billionaire. But there's no guarantee that we've seen, is there? He's egotistical enough he may want to stay on.
MS has lately had a fairly light touch on their acquisitions. They just want their profits to be theirs and to use their IPs to push Xbox sales.
But even if he leaves, it's unlikely MS is going to radically shift their games to be more consumer friendly. CoD and King already prey on children and make bank doing it. MS isn't throwing that away.
I am not very familiar with the gaming industry (casual gamer only) but, while the argument is true, the conclusion that the big players can apply monopolistic practices without constraints leaving smaller players unaffected, is simply false.