Phil Spencer Reiterates Microsoft Isn't Done with Game Studio Acquisitions

Microsoft's Head of Gaming Phil Spencer appeared for a video interview on the Wall Street Journal Tech Live event yesterday. During the conversation with WSJ reporter Sarah Needleman, Phil Spencer reiterated that Microsoft is far from done with game studio acquisitions despite the relative quietness of the past few months. He added that there's no rush.

We're definitely not done. There's no quota, no timeline where I have to go acquire studios by a certain time, but if we discover a studio where nosotros have a good fit... absolutely.

The last big acquisition done by Microsoft remains the $seven.5 billion bargain with ZeniMax, which meant the addition of eight veteran triple-A studios such equally Bethesda Game Studios, Arkane Studios, id Software, MachineGames, Tango GameWorks, Zenimax Online Studios, Roundhouse Studios, and the mobile-focused Alpha Dog Games. Microsoft now owns 23 game studios, merely its main competitor in the console space (Sony) has also been boosting its own beginning-political party roster of developers with the likes of Housemarque, Nixxes, and most recently Bluepoint Games. That'south why more than acquisitions by Microsoft are more than likely, and we'd bet on Asian developers given previous comments made by Phil Spencer himself.

At the WSJ Tech Live consequence, Phil Spencer also briefly addressed the 30 million Game Pass subscribers figure mentioned by Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick a couple of weeks agone. As captured by The Verge announcer Tom Warren and shared via Twitter, he said:

We're sticking with our last public number, which is eighteen million subcribers. We will denote another number at some point. We're just bluntly right at present actively managing the cracking demand from both creators and players.

Game Pass subscribers are continuing to get bully games (some of which on day i). Recent additions include the Myst remake, Scarlet Nexus, Dorsum 4 Blood, The Good Life, Marvel'due south Avengers, Sable, Lemnis Gate, The Riftbreaker, Destiny 2 with its expansions, and Outriders (the concluding ii on PC, as they were already available on Xbox consoles). Historic period of Empires IV, Minecraft, Forza Horizon 5, Evil Genius ii: World Domination, and Halo Infinite will be added before the end of the yr, too.