By Dhirendra Tripathi

Investing.com – Activision Blizzard stock (NASDAQ:) soared 38% in premarket trading Tuesday after Microsoft (NASDAQ:) said it will buy the video games publisher for $68.7 billion.

Each Activision share is valued at $95, an increase of more than 45% from Friday’s closing price of $65.39. U.S. stock markets were closed Monday due to Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Gaming has seen a boom in demand, with the pandemic only increasing it because people who are stuck at home found ways to get involved.

This acquisition will accelerate the growth in Microsoft’s gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse, the world’s second-most valued company said.

The Xbox maker also has access to a large library of franchises like Warcraft, DiabloAnd Candy Crush. Once the deal is secured, Microsoft will become the world’s third-largest gaming company by revenue, behind Tencent (OTC:) and Sony (NYSE:).

Bobby Kotick has led Activision over 30 years and will still be its CEO.

Microsoft is Activision’s fourth largest customer and was said to be miffed with it because of series of allegations of sexual misconduct against top executives of the games publisher. Many of the officials involved have left Activision, or even been fired. These woes have had a negative impact on stock price, which has dropped 28% in the last one year.