"It doesn’t mean every team has to end up selling their studio."
Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has addressed concerns that first-party acquisitions by Microsoft and competitor Sony are a bad thing for the games industry in general.
Speaking with IGN as part of its 500th episode of podcast Unlocked, Spencer detailed how hard it is to not only set up a development studio, but find success on top of that.
“It doesn’t mean every team has to end up selling their studio, but I think it’s a natural and healthy part of our industry that certain teams will start a studio — many of them will fail, we know most small businesses fail, whether it’s video games or anything else — but those that make it through and at such a kind of risk-filled journey for them, to get to the point to create real value, I’m always going to congratulate when teams get to the point where they realize that value through acquisition or just massive independent success if that’s the path they also start to on,” Spencer said.
Of late, Microsoft has been acquiring studios left and right, including the entirety of Bethesda and its IPs. Competitor Sony has followed suit with the likes of Insomniac Games and, most recently, Housemarque.
What do you think about first-party acquisitions of game studios?
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