With the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft placed itself in a position to sustainably become the world’s largest provider of games with Xbox. However, after recent actions, MeinMMO editor Karsten Scholz doubts that Phil Spencer’s team can actually master this task.
Since the introduction of the first Xbox in November 2001, Microsoft has been trying to build a sufficiently large number of first-party studios that reliably release games to sell consoles and – if one includes the past years – subscriptions for the “Xbox Game Pass.”
As rebuilding such studios takes many years, Microsoft’s strategy has been different: take over already established teams with plenty of money and let them develop these first-party productions.
- Rare was the first notable acquisition, in 2002.
- In 2014, the Minecraft developers from Mojang followed.
- Since 2018, Compulsion Games, inXile Entertainment, Ninja Theory, Obsidian Entertainment, Undead Labs, and Playground Games have been part of Xbox Studios.
- In 2019, Double Fine Productions was acquired.
- In March 2021, the acquisition of Bethesda and Zenimax was completed.
- On October 13, 2023, the officials announced the completion of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
On paper, Team Xbox thus consisted of 35 first-party studios, disregarding the actual number of developer teams at Blizzard, King, and others. Among Microsoft’s most important brands now are Call of Duty, Warcraft, Diablo, Candy Crush, Halo, Forza, Minecraft, Age of Empires, and many more.
Call of Duty is one of the most valuable brands in the gaming industry, and it has belonged to Microsoft since 2023.
Reality Meets Hope Critically
Shortly after the acquisition, I still looked optimistically at the future of Team Xbox. The reasons:
- Team Xbox was known for allowing studios quite a bit of freedom with their projects. At the same time, Microsoft has the financial resources, brand rights, and teams to really implement any project.
- Thanks to Xbox Game Pass, I see good chances that teams can work on passion projects that would not have been possible under old Activision – see Pentiment from Obsidian.
- Blizzard now finally has the chance after years to develop games without the pressure from Activision.
- Executives like Phil Spencer (head of Microsoft’s gaming division) and Mike Ybarra (then president of Blizzard) said the right things after the acquisition (for example, that Blizzard wants to develop games again in the future without a service model).
However, my view of Team Xbox has changed significantly over the past few months. There are reasons for this as well:
- Although I had anticipated layoffs after the acquisition of Activision Blizzard (especially in the areas of PR, sales, and support), the wave of layoffs in January exceeded my expectations. Even more surprising was that Blizzard president Mike Ybarra and co-founder Allen Adham had to leave, and that Blizzard’s survival game was shelved.
- Recently, there was the cancellation of BlizzCon 2024, just a year after the comeback of the physical home fair.
- Fresh news included the closures of Tango Gameworks, Alpha Dog, Arkane Austin, and Roundhouse. There were also layoffs in other areas of Bethesda, such as PR.
What I find worst are the sometimes wild statements from Xbox officials to explain the recent layoffs. Matt Booty, for example, said that they want to develop smaller games in the future that rake in prices and positively impact Team Xbox’s reputation (via The Verge).
So just like a game like Hi-Fi Rush, which was successfully released in 2023 by the newly closed Tango Gameworks. With this studio closure, Microsoft is unnecessarily losing talents and executives that had been developed over 14 years.
What is likely to disappoint many Xbox fans as well: So far, no notable game from Activision Blizzard has found its way into the Xbox Game Pass except for Diablo 4. By comparison, when Bethesda was acquired in 2021, 20 games from the publisher landed in the subscription offer shortly after the deal was finalized.
Gloomy Future for Xbox Fans?
With Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II set to release on May 21, the next blockbuster from Team Xbox will be available on PC and Xbox. Instead of appropriately promoting the game now and generating some hype, however, it has so far been a case of low-key PR. Can conclusions about the quality of the game already be drawn from this?
The upcoming first-party showcase announced for June is definitely too late to promote Hellblade II. There, other releases for the current year might be the focus. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Avowed, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and Ara: History Untold are on the list.
Additionally, there are of course Gold Road for The Elder Scrolls Online, The War Within for WoW, Vessel of Hatred for Diablo 4, as well as a new Call of Duty. Team Xbox has definitely had worse years.
But is that enough to bring disillusioned players like me back on board? To me, it currently seems as though Microsoft is repeating old mistakes (keyword: Lionhead) and thereby sustainably damaging its own portfolio of studios and brands. What do you think of the current status of Team Xbox? The WoW boss is pleased, by the way: Blizzard can simply be Blizzard under Microsoft, but with perks.
Your opinion is important to us!
Do you like the article? Then let us know!
