Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition concerns some indie developers

Marna Grantham, a veteran entertainment executive who led content acquisition and distribution teams most recently at Epix, and also at Miramax, Turner, Fox, and UPN, died February 18 in Los Angeles due to complications of Covid-19, an MGM spokesperson announced Monday.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterMarna Grantham, senior vice president of programming acquisitions at Epix and a longtime TV industry veteran, has died due to complications related to COVID-19. She was 63.“I’ve had the pleasure of working with Marna twice, both at Turner Broadcasting and here at Epix,” Michael Wright, president of Epix and MGM Scripted Television, said in a statement to Variety Monday.

Video game publisher Activision Blizzard and its board of directors are facing a shareholder lawsuit that claims they are merely enrching themselves by selling the company to Microsoft.

EXCLUSIVE: Police officer turned video game writer and technical director Morley Nelson (MIB: Alien Crisis, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct) is currently in production in Minnesota on Uncontained, a horror-thriller that he is directing from his original screenplay.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentTarak Ben Ammar has finalized his acquisition of the Studios of Paris, the vast studio facility located on the outskirts of Paris where Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler are currently filming Netflix’s “Murder Mystery 2.” The deal is estimated in the $35-million range.Ben Ammar, who co-founded the Studios with “Valerian” director Luc Besson a decade ago and owned a 25-percent stake in it, completed the acquisition via Eagle Pictures France, a subsidiary of the Italian production and distribution powerhouse.The businessman has taken full ownership of the Studios from its shareholders, including Besson, who owned a 9.9% stake in the complex through his holding company Frontline. The other shareholders who are set to exit the studios are EuropaCorp, Besson’s former production banner which is now mainly owned by Vine Alternative and has a 40% stake in the property, as well as Euromedia, a broadcast facilities provider who has a 25% stake.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard regarding the recent acquisition occurred days after the report on CEO Bobby Kotick.An SEC filing was published on Friday (February 18) stating that Kotick and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer entered talks about the acquisition on November 19, just three days after a report alleged that Kotick had known about Activision Blizzard’s misconduct for years.In September of last year, it was announced that Activision Blizzard was cooperating with an SEC investigation into the allegations of sexual harassment at the company, which this filing refers to.Part of the SEC filing reads: “On November 19, 2021, in the course of a conversation on a different topic between Mr. Spencer and Mr.

Activision Blizzard, Bobby Kotick, has donated over $600,000 (£450,000) to causes that promote the election of Republican candidates.A report conducted by CNBC has found two private companies with links to Kotick which have made a number of large donations to Republican causes, with the aim to elect those candidates into office. The first company is Norgate LLC which made donations of $500,000 (£370,000) to the Senate Leadership Fund in 2020. The fund was aimed at supporting Republican candidate Mitch McConnell.Norgate LLC is linked to Kotick by the addresses it is registered under in California.

Adriana Martínez Barrón, most recently VP of Film at Eva Longoria’s UnbeliEVAble Entertainment, has moved to CBS as Vice President, Drama Series Development.

Activision Blizzard, after the company tried to argue against it.On February 15, judge Timothy Patrick Dillon ruled that temporary workers could be included in the Department of Fair Employment and Housing’s lawsuit against Activision Blizzard.The company had previously tried to have the suit dismissed – or its scope narrowed down – by saying that California had wrongly included this group of employees.“The Court finds that [Department of Fair Employment and Housing] did not expand the scope of this lawsuit by amending the complaint to add the phrase “contingent and temporary workers,” reads a court document shared by reporter Stephen Totilo.Activision scandal news: Yesterday, in a tentative ruling, a judge in California overruled Activision's argument that the state wrongly added temp workers to its big discrimination suit against the company.

Just as Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia is entering the final stretch, HBO/HBO Max is living up to its status as one of the most prized assets in the proposed deal.

EXCLUSIVE: Freestyle Digital Media has acquired North American rights to the narrative documentary Acting: The First Six Lessons, written by and starring Beau Bridges and his daughter Emily Bridges, as well as to the Batman-themed feature documentary Batman and Me, from director Michael Wayne. The digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios plans to release both titles across VOD platforms on March 8.

Microsoft president Brad Smith has said that staff at Activision Blizzard will be “under scrutiny” following its acquisition of the publisher.Last month, Microsoft purchased Activision Blizzard in a deal worth around £50billion, with the US Federal Trade Commission currently conducting an antitrust investigation.The purchase comes after Activision was hit by a lawsuit filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and another by the U.S Securities and Exchange Commission following multiple allegations of sexual harassment, discrimination, and workplace misconduct.In between that, its own staff also filed a complaint too, alleging that the company used intimidation and “coercive tactics” to stifle staff trying to improve working conditions.It’s also been alleged that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick was aware of sexual misconduct claims within the company since 2018 but did not inform Activision’s board of directors. A report by the Wall Street Journal also suggested that Kotick played a first-hand part in the culture that has embroiled Activision in sexual harassment lawsuits and investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission.Speaking CNBC (via VGC) about the accusations, Smith said: “We’re looking to the leadership team at Activision Blizzard today to make culture and workplace safety a top priority every single day, until the day when this deal hopefully closes.

Selome Hailu AMC Networks announced renewals for six series across multiple platforms: “Kin,” “Bloodlands,” “My Life is Murder,” “London Kills,” “Creepshow” and the “Slasher” franchise. The new “Slasher” installment is entitled “Slasher: Ripper,” and will star Eric McCormack as ruthless tycoon Basil Garvey. The announcements were made at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour.“Kin,” the Irish gang drama streaming on AMC Plus, is returning for its second season.

Jennifer Maas TV Business WriterEsports is the biggest opportunity in TV that nobody’s talking about — yet.That’s the view from video game industry veterans who see esports — or the exploding world of live video gaming competitions, complete with crowds of virtual fans cheering them on — as poised to explode in the coming years.Riot Games and Activision Blizzard are among the gaming giants making big investments to juice the burgeoning market for esports TV rights deals. A new round of consolidation and fresh capital coming into gaming, as evidenced by Microsoft’s pending $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, will raise the stakes, as esports content is a clear growth engine for gaming.“We don’t necessarily see obstacles in front of us — we see opportunity,” Brandon Snow, head of Activision Blizzard esports, tells Variety.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has said that he doesn’t believe its acquisition of Activision Blizzard should be blocked by the US Federal Trade Commission.The deal, worth around £50billion, was announced on January 18 but earlier this week it was announced that the US Federal Trade Commission would be conducting an antitrust investigation after fears the acquisition would harm competition.Talking to the Financial Times, Nadella said that the deal would only place Microsoft as the third largest player in the video games industry behind Sony and Tencent. He also believes the fragmentation of the market would prevent it from ever gaining a monopoly.“At the end of the day, all the analysis here has to be done through a lens of what’s the category we’re talking about, and what about the market structure?” said Nadella.“Even post-this acquisition, we will be number three with a low teens (market) share, where even the highest player is also in the teens (for market) share.

Activision Blizzard has announced more Warcraft and World Of Warcraft is coming, some of which in the form of mobile content.As part of the company’s fourth quarter earnings results, a handful of Warcraft announcements were made. This included news that “Blizzard is planning substantial new content for the Warcraft franchise in 2022, including new experiences in World Of Warcraft and Hearthstone, and getting all-new mobile Warcraft content into players’ hands for the first time.”There has been no other mention of what this content will be as of yet, but according to Activision Blizzard the franchise was going strong in 2021 thanks to the inclusion of both the modern and classic game.The company does also note that it “continued to increase our developer headcount in the fourth quarter and added hundreds of talented professionals in 2021,” despite the fact that major layoffs to the Raven Software quality assurance department took place at the end of last year.This led to a strike lasting over a month and the formation of a new union, the Game Workers Alliance, which Activision Blizzard appears to be actively attempting to quash at every turn.

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Sony Interactive Entertainment‘s president and CEO Jim Ryan has stated that Bungie won’t be the only studio buyout.Following the announcement that Sony is buying the Destiny 2 developer for £2.6billion GBP, Jim Ryan spoke on the future of studio buyouts, saying that fans can expect more.Speaking in an interview with GamesIndustry, Ryan said, “These conversations have been a number of months in gestation, and certainly pre-date the activity that we have seen this year. From our perspective, this is really doing what feels right for PlayStation, and what we feel is the right thing to do to drive PlayStation to places we’ve never been before.”Meanwhile, Pete Parsons – the CEO of Bungie – added: “This had nothing to do with industry consolidation.

Microsoft is to be investigated by the Federal Trade Commission over their proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.News broke last month that Call of Duty and Overwatch developers Activision Blizzard were being acquired by Microsoft. But the deal isn’t actually set in stone yet, and now according to Bloomberg, the deal will see the FTC conduct an antitrust investigation over the Activision Blizzard acquisition.