Microsoft Xbox’s Game Studio Hunt: Sega, Bungie, and More Were Considered Prior to Activision Acquisition Deal

The recent FTC vs Microsoft case has come forward with yet another bombshell reveal. The Xbox makers are trying to justify to the court their acquisition of Activision Blizzard. However, the FTC is calling this their attempt to gain a majority share in the market to control it. The end result will be known after the conclusion of this five-day case.

But in recent revelation, it looks like Activision Blizzard was not the only studio Microsoft was looking to acquire. The Xbox makers had an eye out for multiple studios, including the likes of Bungie and Sega.

Microsoft attempted to acquire multiple game studios like Sega and Bungie

During the proceedings of the case, an email sent by Xbox CEO Phil Spencer to multiple Microsoft higher-ups, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, came to light. In this email sent in November 2020, Spencer highlighted the potential of acquiring Sega. He said, “We believe that Sega has built a well-balanced portfolio of games across segments with the global geographic appeal, and will help us accelerate Xbox Game Pass both on and off-console.”

Furthermore, Bungie was considered in the prospective purchase chances in Microsoft’s internal merger evaluation for 2021. They were possibly looking to acquire Bungie for its long-time-running series Destiny. According to the internal document, Microsoft got to know that Bungie as a studio is highly likely to lead them to financial loss. And presumably, this was the reason that they backed out from buying a Bungie. Because buying a financially draining studio while they too are currently lagging behind in the console wars seems counter-productive.

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Apart from these two notable game studios, Microsoft was also eyeing over 15 studios for the benefit they would have added. Some notable names on their watch list were Hitman creators IO Interactive and mobile games creator Zynga. Finally, Microsoft settled on Activision Blizzard to acquire titles like Call of Duty for a whopping amount of $69 billion. However, the fruition of this deal will be after the results are out of the current case.

What are your thoughts on Microsoft’s plan to acquire multiple studios before settling on Activision Blizzard? Let us know in the comments section below.

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