Microsoft is buying rival Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, reshaping the video gaming industry.

The all-cash deal, Microsoft's largest ever, will propel the corporation to third place in terms of revenue among all worldwide video game companies, after Tencent and Sony. The deal offers a 45 percent premium over Activision Blizzard's stock closing price last Friday at $95 per share.

The different subsidiaries of Activision Blizzard create games including Warcraft, Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, and Candy Crush, as well as eSports efforts through Major League Gaming. The corporation employs almost 10,000 people in studios all over the world.

Gaming has grown in popularity as a result of the coronavirus outbreak, and this arrangement is only the latest collaboration of major players. Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of Grand Theft Auto, said last week that it will buy Zynga, a maker of mobile games, for $12.7 billion.

As a firm, Activision Blizzard has been dealing with a major internal upheaval, with multiple allegations of sexual harassment involving senior executives.

Activision Blizzard's CEO, Bobby Kotick, will remain in his position. Activision Blizzard will report to Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, after the purchase closes, according to the release. He and his team will "maintain their focus on driving efforts to further strengthen the company’s culture and accelerate business growth."

“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all.”