Xbox Teases What Sort of Studios It Might Buy Next

Xbox has made some major purchases of games studios of late, including but not limited to The [...]

Xbox has made some major purchases of games studios of late, including but not limited to The Outer Worlds developer Obsidian Entertainment and Psychonauts 2 developer Double Fine. While there weren't any new acquisitions announced at X019, Xbox's most recent event, it sounds like the company isn't totally done buying up others. According to Xbox head Phil Spencer, there's even a certain kind of studio that it is keeping an eye out for.

After stating that he didn't think Xbox was done with its acquisition spree quite yet, Spencer told Eurogamer during an interview at X019 that Xbox's acquisitions spree might not be over just yet. And the company is still on the hunt.

"There are great creators out there," he said. "Our business continues to grow. The company is incredibly supportive of what we're trying to build. Microsoft talks about gaming as a key pillar of its consumer interest and its strategy. We're getting a ton of support from Satya Nadella, Amy Hood and the board. And we're running a good business today, so we've earned the right to continue to look."

After Eurogamer pressed for what Spencer was looking for, exactly, when it comes to new acquisitions, he had a very specific answer: Asian studios.

"I look at the geographic diversity of our studios," Spencer added. "I love the fact we now have three studios here in the UK. You can go back decades... you could argue the UK is as strong as any country in terms of its impact on the history of video games. I love that we're here in such strength. Now we have studios in Canada, studios in other parts of the US. I think we have a hole in Asia. I've said that both to Matt [Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios,] and publicly. I would love to have more of an influence in our own first-party team from Asian creators. There's nothing that's imminent, so it's not a pre-announce of something. But if you just plotted where we are on the map with our first-party, that's a real opportunity for us."

What do you think about Spencer's comments in regards to Asian creators? Are there any particular studios you'd like to see Xbox grab next? Let us know in the comments, or hit me up directly on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk all things gaming!

Here's how Microsoft and Xbox describe Project Scarlett, the upcoming Xbox console, over on its official website:

"Project Scarlett will set a new bar for console power, speed and performance, arriving Holiday 2020 alongside Halo Infinite. With a custom-designed AMD processor, high bandwidth GDDR6 memory, and a next generation solid state drive (SSD), Project Scarlett will give developers the power they need to bring their creative visions to life. Thousands of games across four console generations will look and play best on Project Scarlett."

Project Scarlett is currently set to release Holiday 2020, which puts it in the same launch window as the PlayStation 5. Project Scarlett will almost certainly end up being nothing more than a code name, but there's no telling what official name Xbox will go with when it launches. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Xbox right here.

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