Phil Spencer: Microsoft is Not Done Acquiring Studios - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 06 April 2020 / 3,933 Views
Microsoft in the last couple of years has acquired several gaming studios and now has 15 studios as part of Xbox Game Studios.
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer speaking with Eurogamer revealed the company is not done acquiring studios. He said it is not about just acquiring studios, but to acquire studios that will create great games.
"No!," said Spencer when asked if Microsoft was done acquiring gaming studios. "I do think we can sometimes get a little infatuated with putting a bunch of studio logos on a slide and that becomes the news. They're not trading cards. They're studios. And we want them to build great games. I love the fact we're here announcing three new IP, two from our internal studios.
"As I look forward, there's not a show I can look at where we're not gonna be announcing new games, just because of the breadth of studios we have. It's not really some kind of PR battle about how many new acquisitions we can put on stage. Because if we're not building great games, the acquisitions don't matter.
"But are we done? I don't think so."
Spencer said he and the Xbox team are still on the hunt as the business continues to grow. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has been supportive of Xbox and is the reason Phil Spencer has been able to acquire studios.
"There are great creators out there," said Spencer. "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 tonne 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.
"I look at the geographic diversity of our studios. 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 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.
I love the fact we can stand here and announce Yakuza and Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy coming. That's through third-party relationships, which take time. And we've been really focused on that. But I think we could have stronger first-party creation capability there. We have in the past and I think we should again."
Microsoft's next generation console, codenamed Xbox Scarlett, will launch in Holiday 2020.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Moon Studios and Remedy would be good gets.
Remedy was the one that came to mind for me as well. Would love to see an Alan Wake remaster.
Remedy would be a hard get since that are a public company now.
Buy some Bethesda Ip's and make them good again.
remedy would be nice.
Well we already knew they would still be looking, that is always the case.
Good to them to receive Yakuza, great game.
But he is being at least hyperbolic if when he say he will have a new game to show at every conference, unless of course he is talking about putting non-exclusive games on those, because even with 15 studios if we consider a 3 year development that would be 5 games a year and some shows are bigger than others so unless they decide to show only one new game at each then they will lack games (not even thinking about games that end up taking longer to be made).
Microsoft needs to face the facts about Xbox in Japan. It will never sell there no matter what they do. They do not need to be buying Japanese studios.
