In a latest interview with Squawk Asia (opens in new tab), a markets-focused vertical of CNBC, Xbox head Phil Spencer wouldn’t rule out future recreation studio acquisitions, even because the writer continues to finalize its mammoth $75 billion buy of Activision Blizzard.
In response to a query on whether or not the corporate will “stay acquisitive” or take a pause earlier than future purchases, Spencer had this to say:
“That is such a aggressive market, I do not suppose we get to press pause on something. Tencent is the biggest gaming firm on the planet right this moment, and so they proceed to closely spend money on gaming content material and recreation creators.”
Spencer continued, “Sony is a bigger enterprise than we’re in gaming right this moment, and so they proceed to speculate. It is a extremely, extremely aggressive market.” The manager concluded, “We attempt to be a significant participant. We need to ship nice content material for our gamers, and we’ll stay energetic.”
This definitely struck me as a possible state of affairs, even earlier than Spencer immediately confirmed it right here. We appear to have entered a brand new paradigm of consolidation within the video games business, with firms like Sony, the Embracer Group, Tencent, and Microsoft making one titanic acquisition after one other up to now few years.
In additional dialog with Squawk, Spencer insisted that the corporate didn’t have an curiosity in buying Discord, noting that he was very happy with the 2 corporations’ extra collaborative relationship (opens in new tab) up to now.
Spencer appeared extra amenable to Microsoft making strikes within the JRPG house. This interview got here whereas Spencer was in Japan for the Tokyo Recreation Present, and the manager noticed that JRPGs stay the “house subject” for Sony and Nintendo, whereas Microsoft has had a harder time discovering success within the Japanese market.
Spencer went on to explain holding in depth conferences with Japanese builders centered on constructing working relationships and assembly their wants. The Xbox head completed the interview by stating that Microsoft at the moment has no plans to lift the value of Xbox consoles within the wake of Sony’s latest PS5 value hike (opens in new tab) announcement throughout many of the globe sans America.
