Xbox must have mobile presence if it's going to thrive, Phil Spencer says
Phil Spencer has said that Xbox must have a mobile presence in order for the brand to continue to thrive.
In an interview with Eurogamer today at Gamescom in Cologne, Spencer emphasised the importance of mobile for Xbox to continue to grow its audience — and said it was the core reason behind Microsoft's interest in buying Activision Blizzard (including its mobile arm King) for $68.7bn.
«The reason we're in the acquisition discussion with Activision Blizzard King is around their mobile capability,» Spencer told me. «Because it's just something we don't have.
»We obviously already have Call of Duty on our platform, we already have Diablo on our platform. So it's not about new games that Xbox players don't have access to today. It is about a capability on mobile, and some broader ambitions that we have on the largest gaming platform, which is mobile phones."
When asked what Microsoft's plan was if the Activision Blizzard deal fell through — if Xbox's protracted push to get the acquisition approved by regulators ultimately failed — Spencer said he did not think in terms of having a «plan B».
«Any kind of other plan for us would continue to be about: how do we find relevance in the mobile space? And I think there are other paths to make that happen. But when we looked at the universe of creators — I know most people think about Activision probably in the console, PC [space], but if you look from their finances, the business is actually almost the exact opposite.
»So any other plan would still be about [that]. We think that for Xbox to continue to thrive, we need to have some relevant place in the whole province."
Microsoft has mentioned its interest in launching a mobile games store in the past, as another key
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