2020 was quite the anticipated year for the video game industry. We knew that both Microsoft and Sony had plans to bring out their next-generation video game console platforms into the mix. However, what we didn’t expect to happen was the entire world to get hit with a health pandemic outbreak known as the coronavirus. This shutdown jobs for a period put citizens under lockdown and prevented any kind of social gathering. To say that 2020 has been a pretty terrible year is an understatement.
However, there wasn’t going to be anything that stops Microsoft or Sony from delivering their consoles on time. With that said, now that the consoles have been revealed, detailed, marketed, and available for purchase, there’s a new battle in the works. For both companies, it’s less focused on the hardware and more focused on the software that they can deliver players. Sony is keeping up with exclusives for their PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 console platforms, but Microsoft is changing some things up.
This past generation of consoles didn’t see much in terms of exclusives for Microsoft. Most would say that Sony held a more prominent role when it came to exclusive video games. That’s an area that Microsoft is wanting to change up as they are not only ensuring that their established first-party studios are going strong with content, but acquiring other studios as well. In fact, one of the latest purchases came with several studios.
We’re sure that you are aware already but in case you’re not, Microsoft had begun the acquisition of Zenimax Media. This came at over $7 billion but it included several development studios such as Tango Gameworks, Arkane, id Software, and Bethesda.
Although that is not the last of Microsoft’s purchases, it looks like Phil Spencer had an interview with Bloomberg that stated Microsoft is always looking boost their first-party teams. We’re not sure just who Microsoft is eyeing for their first-party lineup, but with these studios, Microsoft is seemingly broadening their horizons by making the Xbox name available on more platforms than just Xbox consoles.
