The Xbox Head Phil Spencer talked about Microsoft’s recent acquisitions in an interview with CNBC and explained why they can’t “press pause” on acquiring more studios in the gaming space.
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Spencer said the market is already super-competitive as is, and their major opponents in the video games market are currently ahead in the competition. The experienced Xbox boss then added they simply can’t stop their M&A approach, especially when two giants like Tencent and Sony are making heavy investments in this area on a regular basis.
The industry expert also added that their content strategy isn’t limited to acquisitions, but they’re looking at internal investments to remain active and be a major player in the gaming business.
Spencer said the following about Tencent, one of the largest companies Microsoft is competing against:
“This is such a competitive market, I don’t think we get to press pause on anything.
Tencent is the largest gaming company on the planet today, and they continue to heavily invest in gaming content and game creators.
Spencer also talked about Sony, their main rival in the gaming world, and said:
“Sony is a larger business than we are in gaming today, and they continue to invest. It’s a highly, highly competitive market.” The executive concluded, “We strive to be a major player. We want to deliver great content for our players, and we’re going to remain active, whether through internal investment or building new partnerships.”
“Microsoft isn’t going to buy Discord”
The interviewers also relayed a watcher’s question to Spencer, asking if Microsoft is planning to buy Discord. Spencer said they’re quite happy with where they stand with Discord while adding that Xbox and Discord partnership is already being fruitful. The Xbox boss simply said that they’re not planning to buy the instant messaging and voice chat app.
“Xbox will continue to invest in the Japanese market”
Phil Spencer also replied to Microsoft’s interest in the Japanese market and the JRPG genre, where Sony and Nintendo thrive (as expected, considering how Japan is their home ground). Spencer said due to covid and other related reasons, Microsoft didn’t find the chance to appear in Japan as a team and in-person, but now they’re working on it and establishing new partnerships while strengthening the existing ones.
Spencer acknowledged that Japan is a market where Xbox has to work harder and put the extra effort, and added that they already started doing it by having a strong showcase in the Tokyo Game Show 2022.
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