Here’s Why Harebrained Schemes Should Be Microsoft’s Next Acquisition

wccftech.com:

With the official closure of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard finally in the rearview, it is time to look to Microsoft's next likely target in the industry. As it happens, a nice and tidy opportunity just opened up when, following the disappointing launch of the new IP The Lamplighters League, Harebrained Schemes announced that it would separate from Paradox Interactive to seek new investments and partnerships. There are several reasons why the studio, founded in 2011 by Jordan Weisman (who's now busy with Adventure Forge) and Mitch Gitelman, might be an ideal target for Microsoft's next acquisition.

First of all, let's go through why the Xbox company needs yet another studio. As mentioned above, they just acquired Activision Blizzard. However, that does not mean they're done with acquisitions, not by a long shot. Microsoft began the massive acquisition spree that led them to acquire Ninja Theory, Undead Labs, Compulsion Games, Playground Games, inXile Entertainment, Obsidian Entertainment, Double Fine Productions, plus all of ZeniMax and ABK in the span of five years because it finally understood that content is king, especially for its Game Pass subscription service.

Microsoft famously set for its studios the goal to release one big game per quarter to keep subscribers engaged. The thing is, games are taking longer and longer to make due to constantly rising quality standards. As such, reaching that lofty objective year after year is far from a certainty, even with the latest acquisitions. Moreover, the less it has to rely on costly deals with third parties to fill up the Game Pass library, the better for Microsoft.

It is no coincidence that CEO Satya Nadella came out and said outright after the ABK deal's closure