By Tetsushi Kajimoto TOKYO Japan could intervene again to support the yen if it declines further, former top

After nearly two years and $69 billion, Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard is finally complete. The Xbox maker and the game developer are joining together in the biggest purchase in gaming history. It is a vast business undertaking that will define the future of the two companies and the gaming industry more broadly. But what will it actually mean for the gamers who use Microsoft’s platforms and play Activision’s games – as well as those that don’t? What happened in the deal? Microsoft first announced that it wanted to buy Activision Blizzard in January last year. Microsoft makes the Xbox and Activision Blizzard makes many of the worlds biggest games – it is often associated with Call of Duty, but also makes World Of Warcraft, Overwatch and mobile giant Candy Crush, and more. In the time since, the deal has been hit by opposition from rivals, primarily PlayStation maker Sony, and has been undergoing scrutiny from regulators, who worried that it would give Microsoft too much power in the gaming market, and harm players as a result. Regulators across the world expressed those reservations, and in some cases required Microsoft to make changes to the deal. Chief among those changes were Microsoft’s decision to give French gaming company Ubisoft the rights to distribute Activision games in the cloud. This was a response to concerns from the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which expressed concern specifically that the deal would give Microsoft too much power over cloud gaming. But there were a host of less dramatic and expensive commitments. That included signing deals with other companies such as Sony and Nintendo to commit to keep Call of Duty games on their platforms. What will it mean for Xbox players? At least initially, the biggest consequences of the deal are likely to be for Xbox’s Game Pass, the subscription platform that allows players to download and play games in return for a monthly fee. More Activision games are expected to come to that platform as a result of the acquisition. But even that won’t happen straight away, at least with all games. Activision said in a statement this week – before the deal closed – that its big titles won’t be coming to Game Pass this year, and has not made any commitments about which games will do so or when. “While we do not have plans to put Modern Warfare III or Diablo IV into Game Pass this year, once the deal closes, we expect to start working with Xbox to bring our titles to more players around the world,” Activision wrote in a tweet. “And we anticipate that we would begin adding games into Game Pass sometime in the course of next year.” What will it mean for gamers on other platforms? Much of the discussion with regulators has been about this question. And many of the concessions that Microsoft gave over the deal were done with the aim of ensuring that the answer is: not that much, at least at first. Xbox has committed to keep making its games available on other platforms such as PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, as well as on cloud platforms. And Xbox chief Phil Spencer echoed that commitment in the announcement that the deal was completed. “Whether you play on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, PC or mobile, you are welcome here - and will remain welcome, even if Xbox isn’t where you play your favourite franchise. Because when everyone plays, we all win,” he wrote. But the bigger question might be about new games, especially those that come out after the initial commitments are over. Microsoft has committed to keep Call of Duty on rival platforms for 10 years, for instance – but things could change in the years after that, and with other, new games. When Microsoft bought another game developer Bethesda in 2020, for instance, there were questions over what it would mean for players on other platforms, and whether its games would be exclusive to Microsoft. Its most recent game Starcraft was available only on the Xbox and PC, and the upcoming Elder Scrolls VI is likely to be the same. Read More Nasa launches Psyche mission to study an ancient metal asteroid Microsoft buys Call of Duty developer in biggest deal in gaming history Microsoft gets go-ahead to buy Call of Duty maker Activision Nasa launches Psyche mission to study an ancient metal asteroid Microsoft buys Call of Duty developer in biggest deal in gaming history Microsoft gets go-ahead to buy Call of Duty maker Activision

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Former NCAA gymnastics champion Trinity Thomas is making a push toward the 2024 Olympics

By Victoria Waldersee BERLIN Porsche AG reported nine-month results in line with its annual forecast on Wednesday but

Controversial influencer Andrew Tate has put himself in the spotlight again after sitting down for an interview with right-wing media personality Tucker Carlson. Carlson shared the two-and-a-half-hour-long conversation between the pair on Twitter as part of his new independent talk show named “Tucker on Twitter”, following his sacking from FOX News in April. Tate, along with his brother Tristan and two other associates, has been charged in Romania with rape, human trafficking and forming an organised crime group. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter During his interview with Carlson, he discussed his opinions “masculinity” and other aspects of his life and personal experiences. The tweet containing the interview has been viewed more 107 million times, according to Twitter statistics. Is it the most-watched television interview ever? Some of Tate’s fans have made the claim that the interview is the most-watched TV interview of all time, with one “fan” Twitter account, writing: “Andrew Tate's interview with Tucker Carlson is the most watched interview of all time. With the tweet, they shared a screenshot of a Wikipedia page with the title “List of most watched television interviews”. An arrow pointing to the top of the table listed the Tate and Carlson interview in the number one spot, however, the interview was never aired on television and instead was posted on Twitter. Sportskeeda revealed the Wikipedia screenshot with either edited or photoshopped because the current page lists a 1993 Oprah Winfrey interview with Michael Jackson as the most-watched television interview with an average viewership of 62.3 million. The false claim by Tate’s fans was made despite the Wikipedia page stating: “This is specifically on broadcast television and not on other television sources such as YouTube, Twitter or other online source.” However, the interview might be able to claim the title of 'most watched ever' if the television side of the discussion is ignored. The interview has outperformed the widely reported most viewed video on Twitter, which was a piece of skill by Lionel Messi that had more than 19 million views. However, its got a long way to go before it can outperform the biggest video on YouTube; 'Babyshark' which has been viewed an astonishing 13 billion times. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Colombian police are continuing their search for the father of Liverpool striker Luis Díaz, one day after he was kidnapped with his wife near the country’s border with Venezuela

By Gabriella Borter and Steve Gorman (Reuters) -A suspect was arrested in the shooting of three college students of Palestinian

What has Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay said about the Jonathan Taylor trade request? Some would say too much.With the NFL running back crisis reaching its pinnacle, Jonathan Taylor formally requested a trade from the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday following a meeting with owner Jim Irsay. T...

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Many Republicans have criticized Hunter Biden's plea deal. Some of them have focused on how the prosecutor who negotiated the deal, an appointee of President Donald Trump, agreed not only to endorse a sentence of probation on two misdemeanor tax crimes to which Biden pleaded guilty but to also permit the president's son to avoid a conviction on a felony charge of being a drug user or addict in possession of a firearm.