Microsoft’s aggressive acquisitions of major studios including Obsidian Entertainment, Playground Games, and Double Fine have instilled significant excitement inXbox’s future. A wave of awesome first-party games are expected with the launch of the Xbox Series X and hype is at its highest since the Xbox One launch in 2013. But that doesn’t mean that Microsoft is content to wait and see how things work out. TheXboxteam remains interested in further acquisitions in the future.
But acquiring new studios isn’t so simple a process, asXbox boss Phil Spencerrecently spoke about. Integration is the most important aspect of acquisition because poor integration can create disastrous problems. Spencer says that while Xbox is still looking for smart acquisitions, it’s only willing to do so at a pace that is, “maintainable for us as a leadership team.” As in, the team has to be in the correct state to ensure fluid integration into Xbox Game Studios.
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Spencer’s sentiment may explain why it feels like Xbox has pressed pause after its initial flurry of acquisitions. Spencer even expresses a similar thought, saying that, “we want to make sure that those studios are on-boarded in the right way.” He explains howXbox’s prioritywas that the new studios were treated as “full parts of the organization” and “that they felt supported.”
Spencer also says that this isn’t just the attitude of the Xbox team alone.MicrosoftCEO Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood also have “strong support” for what the Xbox team is doing, with no signal that Xbox should start slowing down.
There’s perhaps no better example of this than recent reporting that Microsoft is one of the parties interested inacquiring Warner Bros.' gaming division. Warner Bros. is considering selling its massive gaming division, which includesMortal Kombatdeveloper NetherRealm,Batman Arkhamdeveloper Rocksteady, and 14 other studios across the world. It’d be an expensive and challenging acquisition, but one that would result in incredible value for the Xbox brand, as well.
Needless to say, late 2020 going into 2021 is going to be very exciting forXboxfans.
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