Xbox Boss Drops Major Hint at Next Acquisition
Xbox isn't done buying developers and publishers. Over the last couple of years -- between acquisitions like Bethesda, Playground Games, Ninja Theory, and Double Fine -- Xbox boss Phil Spencer and his team have recruited the makers of games like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Hellblade, Forza Horizon, Wolfenstein, DOOM, and South Park: The Stick of Truth to the Xbox family. Now, Xbox doesn't just have more studios than PlayStation and Nintendo, but it has quite a few more studios than both of its rivals. And again, it sounds like Xbox isn't done growing.
Speaking about acquisitions, Spencer recently dropped a fairly major hint at a future acquisition. While Spencer doesn't name any names, he does say what he and his team want more of, and it's casual games.
"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," said Spencer while speaking to Bloomberg. "We have a lot of ambition."
Spencer doesn't outright say this ambition will be realized with acquisitions but it's what's implied. That said, Spencer does concede that there are risks to acquisitions, but they are very calculated risks.
"Part of creating a studio is the idea that at some point I'll be able to financially exit and realize the risks that I took and see the benefit of that," said Spencer. "It's a two-sided economy of creators starting new teams, taking risks doing new things, seeing that to completion, and then those studios becoming part of something bigger."
Unfortunately for Spencer, there aren't many great makers of casual games, and those that are great at it will cost a fortune similar to what he and Microsoft paid for Mojang.
As always, feel free to leave a comment or two letting us know what you think or, alternatively, hit me up on Twitter @Tyler_Fischer_ to talk all things gaming. Who should Microsoft look to acquire net?