Spencer Hints At Microsoft Studios Doing More Investments In The Future

During the Inside Xbox E3 2018 special broadcast, Phil Spencer commented the acquisition of new studios announced back at its media briefing, adding that the move was “needed” and that there might be more acquisition in the future.

During the Inside Xbox E3 2018 special broadcast, Phil Spencer commented the acquisition of new studios announced back at its media briefing, adding that the move was “needed” and that there might be more acquisition in the future.

“Those are the studios we’ve had a long relationship with. We were able to invest in them in a way that’s going to unlock their creative potential. I think about a team like Ninja Theory, which I’ve worked with back on the original Xbox for Kung Fu Chaos; Playground Games, we’ve worked with them on Forza Horizon, they wanted to go off and do new things,” he said, also hinting at the rumored open world from the British developer.

“And then Darrell Gallagher, who we worked with for Tomb Raider. He wanted to create a new studio (the one based in Santa Monica) and we said yes, it would be a fun thing to do. It’s an investment we needed to make.”

On top of this, Spencer added that this is just the beginning of the “journey” that is leading into the expansion of Microsoft Studios, now built of eleven first party developers among which Compulsion Games and Undead Labs.

“I think we’re always open to looking into expanding our first party. I don’t think Matt (Booty) and I looked at E3 as the end of our journey here. I think it’s something we’ll always keep our eyes open. Some of these deals may not all happen at the same time, we were lucky to be able to keep the news quiet for a while, which doesn’t always happen but was nice that it did so we could land the news here and the surprise. We know investment in our first-party, whether it’s new things or growth or existing franchises, is important.”

Hopefully, we’ll see the fruits of these investments coming at the beginning of the next generation and learn more about them in the next E3 media briefings.