Microsoft Settles Activision Suit for $250 Million

Microsoft has agreed to pay $250 million to settle a lawsuit tied to its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2022.

The suit, filed by Swedish pension fund AP7, claimed the price was too low and that the deal was rushed to avoid fallout from Activision's sexual misconduct scandal. It named Activision Blizzard and CEO Bobby Kotick as defendants.

Last fall, a Delaware Chancery Court judge allowed the case to move forward. Kotick retained a high-profile attorney and filed a countersuit alleging that gaming publisher Embracer helped instigate the litigation to undermine a rival.

Kotick's lawyers stated, “Mr. Kotick intends to shine a light on the gross misconduct of the activists who invented the false narrative of misconduct at Activision, and to expose the relationship between those activists and AP7. The Court, and the public, should be aware of the abuse of legal process through which AP7, regulators, and union activists brought false and wholly unsubstantiated claims against Activision and Mr. Kotick.”

The settlement resolves all claims and closes the final chapter of the Activision Blizzard acquisition. It exceeds the entire development budget of 2020's The Last of Us Part 2 and includes a statement that “no court or any independent investigation has substantiated any allegations that: there has been systemic or widespread sexual harassment at Activision Blizzard [or] that Activision Blizzard senior executives ignored, condoned, or tolerated a culture of systemic harassment, retaliation, or discrimination.”

Activision Blizzard previously paid $54 million in 2023 to settle a California lawsuit alleging discrimination against female employees.