I’ve no doubt of that either. Sony may have several more coming, but there’s no way MS will be sitting still.
Definitely some acquisitions lined up for after ActiBliz closes.
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You had the entire forum united in the fact MS wouldnt go anywhere near Acti or CDPR or UBI due to all thr sexism and toxicity.
It was always Japanese publishers who everyone thought MS would get next, which I still disagree on.
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I mean thats what we thought but nothing ever implied they wouldn’t lol.
Exactly.
Activision, they are like the most American publisher of them all, and MS will always have a US centric approach when it comes to buying.
We should hsve called it
There was a time where i believed they wouldn’t go for Publishers period.
Every rule people come up with proves to be incorrect. Publishers, public vs private, “troubled” studios… all proved wrong.
Next rule to be broken? Japan 
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MS board is active in the XboxEra acquisitions topic confirmed.
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MS going international would be cool, however I think its Eastern Europe or mainline Europe if they do.
Wont complain if they get Capcom tho
It’s like they broke every rule we said
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While I appreciate Phil’s humility, this is definitely my biggest question. How does Microsoft sufficiently manage this many studios? It’s a legit question that even Phil can’t explicitly answer but he’s certainly earned my trust. His philosophy to business really resonates with me and I’m excited to see if they can get the most out of everyone they’ve brought on.
Psychonauts 2 was an excellent potential example of what they can do it they offer sovereignty and sufficient resources. However, turning ABK around will be a monumental challenge that I really don’t envy.
Sega acquisition confirmed.
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I think the honest answer is: by not managing them too much. Just like they are doing it with Bethesda and many of their own studios. Sure, fix obvious cultural and line-up problems, but don’t interfere too much. In particular don’t interfere with the creative decisions of a studio. We all know how this usually ends. That’s likely the only way how managing all these studios and teams is even possible.
Help where ever you can and fix obvious problems, but other than that, give the responsibility to these studios/organizations on their own.
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I think this is great but can lead to certain chaos at times lol.
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That’s still easier said than done. Finding the right leadership, cultivating further leadership with their ranks and stewarding their vision to actual results (amazing games) sounds like a freaking Rube Goldberg machine, in terms of complexity. But if they nail it, Game Pass will be even more undeniably valuable than it is now and, most importantly, it will lead to some of the most ambitious and innovative games in recent memory.
However, game developers are some of the best engineers in the world. They understand complexity. I wish Phil and the team nothing but luck, just as long as they never become too powerful. Haha
He’s got Matt Booty on XGS and Pete Hines on Bethesda. I’d probably split Activision and Blizzard and try to find a quality leader for both. Ybarra is pretty new in role but I guess he’s got a year to prove himself.
Think once you got good leadership in they can do the heavy lifting.
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Pete Hines isn’t the leader at Zenimax/Bethesda. He is a marketing guy (a great one, love that guy)
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Yeah, weren’t we under the assumption that the other Todd guy? (Going to see if I can find his name, he was at the roundtable though)
Edit: I was thinking of Todd Vaughn. He’s senior Vice President of Development.
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Yeah I am not so in the know with who is who over at Zenimax haha
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