Phil Spencer, who joined Microsoft as an intern in 1988 and rose up to lead the games business, was instrumental in the Activision Blizzard purchase.
Gaming has long been a secondary business for Microsoft, which dominates in PC software.
“It is an extraordinary amount of money for Microsoft, whose core business is not gaming,” said Don Coyner, who was the first person to work on marketing inside the company’s Xbox unit.
Source: Microsoft games boss Phil Spencer drove $69 billion Activision deal