Microsoft has been on a rampage of late, acquiring studios to expand its portfolio of first party developers. In June, they announced the setup and acquiring of five new developers, which doubled their slate of first party in one fell swoop. Now, true to their word earlier, it looks like they might be getting ready to finalize what will be their most high profile acquisition yet.
Kotaku is reporting that its sources have confirmed that Microsoft is close to finalizing a deal to acquire the beloved RPG developer Obsidian Entertainment. One source has said the deal is “90% done”, while another stated that it is now a matter of “when, not if” Microsoft will announce the acquisition.
The deal would work for both companies— Microsoft gets a well known RPG developer on its side, which can create compelling killer apps for their systems, and help drive adoption. Obsidian gets financial security, which is something the company has often struggled with. That said, it’s still curious, given that Obsidian and Microsoft partnered on an RPG once before that was cancelled before it could be released (and was one of the reasons that Obsidian struggled financially a few years ago to begin with).
Both companies refused to actually acknowledge the rumors and reports, in statements to Kotaku.
“We do not comment on rumors or speculation,” said a Microsoft spokesperson.
“Unfortunately, we don’t comment on rumors or speculation other than to say that the Rumors album by Fleetwood Mac still holds up,” said an Obsidian spokesperson, which is rather more glib than what Microsoft said.
It’ll be interesting to see this play out, that’s for sure— and more than anything, this is evidence that Microsoft is serious about its long term commitment to the gaming sphere.
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