The gaming industry right now is going through a period of consolidations and acquisitions, for better or worse. One of the biggest drivers of that has been Microsoft, who have acquired a staggering number of studios over the last few years, with their biggest purchase being Bethesda, a move that will most likely significantly change the look of the gaming landscape as more of their content is produced. Microsoft also isn’t done. The head of the brand has signaled there is more acquisitions to come, and it seems as if at least some of that will have a specific bend.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Phil Spencer spoke about some potential acquisitions we could see going forward. There he expressed interest in getting partners that produce content with what many would consider a “casual” focus. He didn’t mention any specific studios or publishers, but did give several examples of games as an idea for what they are looking for, saying, “When I think about the kinds of genres that are usually associated with Xbox, yes, we have Roblox, we have Minecraft, we have FIFA and Fortnite, but we want to continue to invest in more social, casual content that’s out there.”
There are obviously a good deal of studios big and small working on types of games that could fit there, even if none are quite as large as Spencer’s examples. We also know that the company would like to get more Japanese games under their belt, so there’s obviously a lot of possibilities for where they could be looking. We’ll just have to wait and see who is next.
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