Xbox Reportedly in Talks to Acquire Major Polish Developer

Xbox is reportedly window-shopping in Poland, looking for new developers to add to its growing Xbox Game Studios' family. The report comes way of an unusual source: Borys Niespielak, and award-winning director in Poland, who revealed during a recent podcast that Microsoft was recently in Poland looking into adding new teams to its ranks. Unfortunately, the director can't divulge many salient details, but he's positive Microsoft talked to at least one developer, possibly more. However, it's unclear if any agreements were reached.

Again, unfortunately this is where the details dry up, but if Microsoft is shopping in Poland then the list is thankfully pretty tidy. The biggest developer in Poland is CD Projekt Red, the makes of The Witcher and the upcoming Cyberpunk 2077. However, they are a public company and also worth quite the pretty penny, which makes acquiring them less straight forward than the developers Microsoft has purchased in the past. In other words, it's highly unlikely it was CD Projekt Red that Microsoft was talking to.

The second biggest name in Poland is Techland, a developer and publisher best known for Dying Light. Unlike CD Projekt Red, they are private and a cheaper option. Further, they are on the come up and Dying Light 2 looks poised to be one of the biggest and best games of 2020. In other words, they would be a shrewd studio to add if they could be had at a good price and were willing to sell.

In terms of other notable and private studios in Poland, there's People Can Fly, makers of Painkiller, Bulletstorm, and Gears of War: Judgement. If I was a betting man, I'd wager this is who Microsoft was talking to, given their history of working together and given that unlike the above two developers, I'm sure People Can Fly would be eager to join the Xbox family. The team is currently working on Outriders with Square Enix. There's also The Farm 51, makers of Get Even and World War 3, but I don't think a studio of this caliber would be on Micrsoft's shopping list at this point, unless it's looking to add quantity on the cheap.

Beyond the private world, there are some publicly traded companies Microsoft could make an attempt at, such as 11 Bit Studios, Bloober Team, and CI Games, but like CD Projekt Red, this is highly unlikely.

Anyway, as always, take any report of the unofficial variety with a grain of salt. There's a good chance there's something to this, but it's nothing worth going to the bookies for.

Source: Borys Nieśpielak via Remigiusz Maciaszek and s3v8