CMA: Microsoft Bought Studios To Acquire Talent, Not Hoard Games

gameranx.com:

The CMA has made an interesting observation when it came to Microsoft’s acquisition of other game companies and studios prior to Activision Blizzard King.

In page 11 of the document titled Addendum to Provisional Findings, they had this to say (edited for clarity):

“In light of the significant change in the lifetime value model, we also reassessed the evidence of Microsoft’s acquisition of other studios.

We confirmed that most of these were, in effect, acquisitions of talent. The majority of studios that Microsoft has acquired (with some notable exceptions such as Bethesda) did not have regular releases of popular gaming franchises available on different platforms.

As such, Microsoft did not have to decide whether to make multiplatform games with a large customer base exclusive to Xbox following these acquisitions; it acquired those studios with the specific purpose of making exclusive games for its platform.”

Microsoft’s studio acquisitions run the gamut when it comes to size, genre, etc. They also did not feel the need to stick to these studios for their game ideas, as they have done work with outside studios many times.

But to briefly review, the studios Microsoft owns includes:

Rare – one time the developer of the Banjo-Kazooie games, now the main developer for Sea of Thieves

Mojang – still the main studio and steward of the Minecraft franchise

Ninja Theory – the studio behind upcoming game Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2

Obsidian Entertainment – currently working on The Outer Worlds 2

It can definitely be said that all these studios made popular and well regarded games. But they aren’t quite at the level of Call of Duty. Well, I’ll give you Minecraft, but even that game isn’t particularly known to fuel console rivalries,