Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, June 27-Microsoft considered buying a number of game developers and publishers, including Japan's Sega, before deciding to buy Activision Blizzard for $69 billion, according to internal emails and documents.

According to The Verge, Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft's Xbox division, sent an internal email to CEO Satya Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood in 2020, asking them to approve contact with Sega's parent company, Saga Sammy, to discuss a possible acquisition. "We believe that Sega has established a balanced portfolio of games covering different market segments, which is geographically attractive and will help us accelerate the development of Xbox Game Pass both inside and outside the mainframe," the email said.

It is not clear whether Microsoft and Sega have actually held talks. However, The Verge also released another internal document for April 2021, listing at least other developers and publishers that Microsoft has considered acquiring. One of the most interesting developers is Bungie, which Microsoft actually acquired in 2000 to ensure that the first Halo game became the exclusive release of the first Xbox console. In 2007, Bungie became an independent game developer again, but continued to develop new Halo games for Microsoft until Halo: Zhi Yuanxing was released. Although Microsoft acquired Halo's intellectual property rights, Bungie developed the Destiny game series instead. In 2022, Sony finally acquired Bungie.

CTOnews.com notes that other game developers and publishers Microsoft has considered acquiring include IO Interactive, creator of the Killer series, Supergiant Games, creator of Hades, Niantic, creator of Pokemon GO, and smaller publishers such as Thunderful, Playrix and Scopley. The list also includes Zynga,Spencer 's confirmation in court testimony last week that it had seriously considered buying the company a few years ago, but that the company was eventually bought by Take-Two Interactive.

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