There have been many stories revolving around Xbox and Microsoft over the last several months. Some of them have been good, such as the new partnership with Square Enix that could see many of their big RPGs head to Xbox systems in the future. But then, there was the story that dominated the industry, where Microsoft tried to buy Activision Blizzard, and numerous forces came together to try and stop them. In the end, their attempts were unsuccessful, but Microsoft still has many hopes to jump through on certain matters, which Phil Spencer talked about recently at Gamescom during an interview with IGN.
Ironically, the matter that was discussed in the interview didn’t involve Sony or Activision Blizzard. Instead, it involved how the CMA questioned the company about a partnership with Ubisoft. IGN wasn’t sure what was going on with that, so Phil Spencer clarified:
“Fundamentally, we are trying to bring more games to more people. And we think doing the deal with Ubisoft, which frees up one of the concerns that the [Competition and Markets Authority], which is the UK regulatory board where acquisitions get handled, will allow more games to go to more people. We’ve always thought we would do that as well, but Ubisoft’s a good partner. We know them. They’re independent from us. So we say any kind of concerns that we may dictate where the games go, hopefully is alleviated now and allow us to continue to move forward in what we’re working on with the deal. We still have work to do there, but we think it’s a good step, bring more games to more people, which has been what this is about.”
He further elaborated that when/if the deal closes, the cloud streaming rights for Activision Blizzard games will go to Ubisoft. But he reaffirmed that games in places like Xbox Game Pass will still be available.
Clearly, this is a very complicated issue, and a story that is not prominent in the video game space for several reasons. But this is part of why Microsoft was under investigation in the first place, regardless of which side you were on during the proceedings.
For Spencer and Microsoft, they were trying everything in their power to expand and get a better chunk of the market. As Spencer said, they’re trying to “bring games to more people,” multiple efforts, including acquisitions and Xbox Game Pass, have been focused on that.
So, if they can clear the deal with Ubisoft, they’ll be one step closer to their goal.
