Microsoft Considered Buying Sega
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The wish of Sega’s elders to avenge their hatred has almost come true—Spencer expressed his willingness to acquire Sega to the company’s senior management in an internal email in 2020, which was exposed due to the antitrust lawsuit between the FTC and Microsoft:
“We believe that Sega’s software lineup has global appeal in every market segment and will help open up XGP subscriptions in consoles and beyond,” Spencer said in an email.
Spencer pointed out in the e-mail that Sega games are owned by the parent company SEGA Sammy (SEGA SAMMY), and its business income accounts for half of the parent company’s annual revenue. Although SEGA SAMMY is a publicly listed company, there are still complexities in the transaction. If the acquisition intention is approved, the Xbox department will cooperate with the company’s legal counsel to draw up the next phase of the action schedule.
In an email, Spencer pointed out to management that acquisition targets considered by the Xbox division must meet the following screening criteria:
· Conducive to the expansion and strength of PC game business in North America and Europe; · Conducive to the expansion and strength of mobile game business in North America and Europe; · Conducive to the expansion and strength of console and PC games in the Asia-Pacific region.
In view of this, Sega is indeed an ideal acquisition target in terms of size, IP, and PC games (Sega owns Creative Assembly, the developer of the Total War series, and Relic, the developer of Company of Heroes, both of which are veteran PC game development units).
Screening according to the above criteria, Microsoft once targeted Bungie, IO Interactive, and the mobile game company Zynga. As Microsoft continued to strengthen its cloud business, its appetite for acquisitions also increased, and it finally swallowed ZeniMax (Bethesda) in one bite. Later troubles even tried to annex Activision-Blizzard, shocking the game industry.
In addition, in order to cooperate with the upcoming live-action movie “Barbie”, Microsoft, Warner Pictures and Mattel Toys jointly launched Barbie-themed peripherals:
It should be noted that this should be a controller sticker rather than a customized controller. The Barbie-painted XSS is also a prize for a raffle that is not for sale. What is more closely related to players is that “Forza Motorsport 5” has updated two Barbie-painted vehicles, and those who are interested can receive them for free in the game.
The live-action “Barbie” movie starring Harley Quinn and Goslinger will be released on the 21st of next month.
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