A decade ago, Activision Blizzard had a toe in almost every corner of the business. It had AAA core gaming and budget titles. It had original IP and licensed games based on kids movies and comic books. It had single-player adventures and massively multiplayer online worlds.
Part of the way it became such an all-encompassing entity was through mergers and acquisitions. Activision bought RedOctane and the Guitar Hero franchise when they were just taking off, and then acquired FreeStyle Games, Budcat Creations, and 7 Studios to churn out more content in the briefly insatiable rhythm game genre. It merged with Vivendi Games to bring Blizzard's MMO, RTS, and action RPG hits into the fold and become a force in PC gaming. It bought Bizarre Creations to fill the racer-shaped hole in its portfolio.
So given Activision Blizzard's interest in expanding into trending new markets and willingness to buy its way into them, why wasn't it making a move for mobile in 2010, the year the iPad debuted and smartphones were still ascendant?
As CEO Bobby Kotick explained at the Reuters Global Media Summit, he just wasn't interested in mobile games.

Was Activision Blizzard right to ignore mobile? | 10 Years Ago This Month | GamesIndustry.biz