Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has discussed the mixed sentiment on recent studio acquisitions but argued that the practice is a natural and healthy part of the industry.
In a recent interview with IGN, and touching on the topic of acquisitions, Phil Spencer explained that leaders who sell their studios often go on to start another, which he described as “the natural turnover that happens with entrepreneurs and start-up businesses.”
In terms of his own experience, Spencer noted that Xbox is “always out there looking at where could continue to build our first-party capability and looking at teams that we think would be a good fit for us.”
He believes that for certain studios, being acquired is “a sign that the selling company has ‘made it’.”
As reported by VGC, Spencer did acknowledge that there is debate in the industry on if “acquisitions are a good or bad thing”, saying that he can “understand some of the sentiment from the community” on the topic.
He also congratulated the teams who have recently been acquired by Sony, namely Housemarque and Bluepoint Games.
Xbox Game Studios is a key driver for big-name studio acquisitions. Last September, Microsoft made news when they acquired ZeniMax Media – home of Bethesda Softworks, Arkane Studios and more – for $7.5billion.
Earlier in the month (June 10), Microsoft shared details on how they planned to increase their studio portfolio in order to widen their Xbox Game Pass catalogue and release “one new first-party game every quarter.”
Xbox Game Studios boss Matt Booty said, “We know that a thriving entertainment service needs a consistent and exciting flow of new content. So our portfolio will continue to grow as our service grows.”
In other news, Escape From Tarkov has received its first set of patch notes for 12.11, as well as an infographic on how players behaved on 12.10.
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