The FTC’s legal battle to prevent Xbox from acquiring Activision Blizzard continues this week, and a slew of evidentiary documents surfaced online during the break, revealing some intriguing details about who all Xbox is interested in acquiring, and Sega was a surprise.
In the ongoing trial, an internal Xbox document produced as evidence outlines the company’s acquisition strategy as of May 2021. The document opens by advocating several acquisitions to address perceived content gaps in mobile development, as well as “franchises with strong communities and deep engagement” and “casual, social, and cross-generational franchises.”
According to the presentation, Xbox produced a list of 100 developers based on numerous factors before narrowing it down to eight final candidates:
- Thunderful
- Supergiant Games
- Niantic
- Playrix
- Zynga
- Bungie
- IO Interactive
- Scopely
Behaviour Interactive, Housemarque (bought by Sony in 2021), Remedy Entertainment, Larian Studios, Rebellion Developments, and Paradox Interactive are among the notable developers who almost made the final cut.
According to a similar email, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer specifically asked Microsoft CFO Amy Hood and CEO Satya Nadella for permission to approach Sega and acquire its gaming studios (but not the rest of its business groups).
Because the email is dated November 2020, it’s unknown why, when, or even if Spencer’s plan to pick up Sega failed. According to the biography Xbox created on the studio, it considered Nexon’s ownership in the company as a complicated factor in the process, as well as issues from Sega’s other business verticals. Its PC-centric content (Total War and Football Manager), as well as Relic Entertainment, Yakuza, Endless Dungeon, and, of course, Sonic, were all big draws.
The presentation offers a detailed breakdown of the 17 firms (and perhaps an 18th, fully censored one) that Xbox was seriously evaluating, including information about their future games, dangers involved, and other details. This section has several intriguing pieces of information, such as the mention of Bungie’s mystery “Matter” IP and apparent confirmation that IO’s upcoming fantasy shooter is indeed the rumored “Project Dragon” in the works for Xbox and PC.
