Activision rumored to be forming new team within Blizzard to develop smaller AA games

Following the takeover by Microsoft, Activision Bilzzard is forming a new team consisting mainly of King Digital Entertainment employees to develop smaller "AA" games based on Blizzard franchises such as Overwatch, Warcraft, Diablo and StarCraft. This information comes from an article by industry insider Jez Corden on Windows Central who is considered a very reliable source when it comes to Microsoft.

King develops casual games for the mobile market and is best known for the long-running hit Candy Crush. In 2016, the company was acquired by Activision Blizzard for 68 billion US dollars. Jez Corden's statements are primarily based on the fact that many King employees have switched their LinkedIn profiles to Blizzard in recent weeks. According to the industry insider, Microsoft wants to make greater use of the extensive catalog of franchises it acquired with the Activision-Blizzard takeover. To this end, the advantages of small, agile teams are to be utilized.

Mobile games are likely to be developed

Given King's expertise in mobile gaming, it is conceivable that the games will be developed for iOS and Android and possibly published via the planned Xbox gaming store. However, Jez Corden emphasizes that he is not entirely sure whether Microsoft will limit itself to mobile games here.