Microsoft Considered Buying Square Enix Back In 2019
It's no secret that Microsoft is on the hunt to buy up a bunch of developers it believes will help boost the value of the Xbox brand as well as Game Pass. We've already seen its efforts with Bethesda parent studio ZeniMax Media and the ongoing Activision Blizzard acquisition attempt. However, it turns out that Microsoft was actually considering buying up another massive developer and publisher, that being Final Fantasy maker Square Enix.
According to some new court documents revealed in Microsoft's case with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), the company was considering internally whether to persue a deal to buy Square Enix, though it's unclear as to how far along these talks went or at what level it was pitched. Phil Spencer gave some feedback about the proposal, suggesting that it made it pretty high up the chain of command, but we'll probably never know how those talks went.
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According to the proposal, the deal would've have kept all existing and announced Square Enix titles on all platforms, with every single future title launching on Xbox Game Pass on the day of release. It's noted that this would most likely cannibalize sales of the majority of Square Enix titles, and Microsoft would've likely made the occasional release exclusive to Project Scarlett, which we now know as the Xbox Series X.
While Microsoft thinking about buying Square Enix will probably ring some alarm bells for fans of Final Fantasy and the like, it's worth noting that it seems like Microsoft has considered buying pretty much every major developer and publisher at this point. Over the course of its court battle with the FTC, documents about Microsoft's potential
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