Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer made it clear in an interview with Bloomberg that the company is not yet done with acquiring game studios, despite record spending to buy Activision Blizzard.
Image source: Steam (ester c)
Let us remember that the deal to purchase Activision Blizzard was completed last fall and cost Microsoft a record $68.7 billion. As part of the transaction, the platform holder also took over the mobile developer King (Candy Crush).
According to Spencer, the company is considering a plan to compete in the markets of portable devices and smartphone stores, and the purchase of another mobile studio would complement the Xbox portfolio after the addition of Activision Blizzard.
Age of Empires Mobile was created in partnership with the Chinese TiMi Studios (image source: Xbox)
In addition, Xbox hopes to increase the “geographic diversity” of its studios, potentially with teams from China. Spencer called partnerships with teams from the Middle Kingdom to enter the global market a “real opportunity.”
«We definitely want to be in the game and when we can find teams, technologies or capabilities that complement what we’re trying to achieve at Microsoft Gaming, we’ll certainly keep our eyes open,” Spencer said.
Black Myth: Wukong is the biggest gaming hit from China in 2024 (image source: wetto on Steam)
The head of Microsoft Gaming hastened to clarify that there are no deals on the horizon yet, and particularly large acquisitions are not being considered at all, since the company has not yet finished integrating Activision Blizzard employees.
In the same interview, Spencer also talked about Microsoft’s plans to release a portable console (still several years away) and the lack of restrictions on which games can be transferred to other platforms and which cannot.