Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard joins the S&P 500

Activision Blizzard, the publisher of video games from World of Warcraft to Call of Duty, announced today that will soon join the S&P 500 stock market index.

The addition of the video game company to the S&P 500 is a milestone that will likely raise awareness of the company among investors, as the index of 500 publicly traded American companies is a bellwether for the overall economy. It joins two other S&P companies involved with gaming: Microsoft and giant publisher EA.

Starting after the close of normal trading on Friday, Activision Blizzard will replace Pall in a transaction that is pending final approvals. Activision Blizzard will be part of the home entertainment software sub-industry index.

“Joining the S&P 500 is a reflection of our talented teams’ passion, hard work and commitment to excellence. We believe we are well-positioned for long-term growth, and we look forward to continuing to deliver value to our audiences and investors,” said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, in a statement.

 

 

Dean Takahashi

Dean Takahashi is editorial director for GamesBeat at VentureBeat. He has been a tech journalist since 1988, and he has covered games as a beat since 1996. He was lead writer for GamesBeat at VentureBeat from 2008 to April 2025. Prior to that, he wrote for the San Jose Mercury News, the Red Herring, the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and the Dallas Times-Herald. He is the author of two books, "Opening the Xbox" and "The Xbox 360 Uncloaked." He organizes the annual GamesBeat Next, GamesBeat Summit and GamesBeat Insider Series: Hollywood and Games conferences and is a frequent speaker at gaming and tech events. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.