The dream of Candy Crush on Game Pass is that much closer to a reality.

Microsoft is a stone's throw away from finalizing a deal for the purchase of Activision Blizzard. The deal sees Microsoft picking up the Call of Duty and Candy Crush developer for a staggering $68.7 billion (USD). Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer spilled the beans in a new posting at the Xbox Wire earlier today.

This deal seems to have been made at the "perfect" time, at least for Microsoft....

This evening, Activision Blizzard began to inform numerous employees that they will be let go from the company. The layoffs started shortly after the conclusion of an earnings call made this afternoon. The company says that they will be eliminating 8% of its total staff. As of 2018, Activision Blizzard employed around 9,600 people. If this figure holds up, that means at least 770 people are now out of work.

Those impacted by the layoffs are spread out across multiple Activision...