Five Reasons Microsoft Is Making Activision Its Biggest Deal Yet

Microsoft Corp.is buying Activision Blizzard Inc. in a $68.7 billion all-cash acquisition, uniting two of the biggest forces in video games. It’s the software maker’s biggest deal ever, almost three times as large as the 2016 purchase of LinkedIn. Here are five key reasons why it happened.

1. Size: The transaction, if it can get regulatory approval, will create the world’s No. 3 global gaming company, catapulting Microsoft to just behind China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd., the publisher of League of Legends, and game console rival Sony Corp., maker of the PlayStation.
   
   Activision couldn’t compete in the new world of gaming on its own, Chief ...