Microsoft’s spree of studio and publisher acquisitions culminated in the company acquiring Activision Blizzard in a deal worth $69 billion, following which talk of further acquisitions has certainly cooled down at Xbox. It turns out, however, that continuing to add new teams to its first-party portfolio of gaming studios is something that Microsoft intends to continue doing.
That’s as per Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, who said to Bloomberg that Xbox is still eyeing further acquisitions, with teams in Asia to add “geographic diversity” and mobile game studios in particular being considered.
“We definitely want to be in the market, and when we can find teams and technology and capability that add to what we’re trying to do in gaming at Microsoft, absolutely we will keep our heads up,” he said.
It’s worth mentioning, of course, that Microsoft did have an established Asian first-party studio until not that long ago in the form of Hi-Fi Rush and The Evil Within developer Tango Gameworks, which was shuttered by the company earlier this year, prior to the studio being revived and acquired by Krafton.
Tango Gameworks is one of several first-party studios at Microsoft that have suffered either significant layoffs or complete closures altogether in the last couple of years, so one would hope that the company prioritizes sorting out those issues before it moves ahead with adding more studios to its existing portfolio.