Microsoft reportedly considered buying Square Enix at some point in a bid to bolster isXboxbusiness. This was revealed duringMicrosoft’s ongoing hearing in front of the Federal Trade Commissionfor its proposed Activision-Blizzard deal.Microsoft revealed its intention to buy Activision more than a year ago, but still hasn’t been able to close it due to immense pressure from global regulatory authorities. The three most crucial organizations investigating the deal are the EU, UK’s CMA, and US’s FTC, out of which only theEU has approved the Microsoft-Activision dealwith certain conditions. The FTC is currently investigating the matter and a preliminary hearing is currently underway where Microsoft and other members of the gaming industry are testifying. This hearing has revealed several previously unknown facts about Microsoft and other companies in the industry, which also includes a number of game studios Microsoft considered acquiring. Now, new findings have revealed that the US tech giant contemplated buying Japanese video game giant, Square Enix.RELATED:This is How Much Xbox Paid for Ninja TheoryAs reported by Axios Gaming’s Stephen Totilo, Microsoft made the consideration in 2019, but there is no clarity about the level of discussions the proposal went through. The screenshots posted by Totilo reveal that Xbox boss, Phil Spencer, provided feedback on the proposal which mentioned how continuing to keep “recently announced and released games” on announced platforms would boost Xbox’s first-party revenue. Additionally, it also mentioned shipping future titles by Square Enix onXbox Game Passon Day 1, which would’ve hampered base game sales according to Microsoft.
Square Enix wasn’t the only studio Microsoft considered buying as documents from the previous sessions revealed that it also thought about acquiring Bungie and Sega as well. Others studios on its watchlist included Supergiant Games, IO Interactive, Zynga, and Niantic. PlayStation Boss, Jim Ryan, also testified in the hearing where he went on to call Xbox Game Pass “destructive”. He has been vocal in his stance against the Xbox-Activison merger since the beginning and has also mentioned that if the merger goes through,Activision might not receive PlayStation 6 dev kitsas it would fall right into the hands of its direct competitor.
Interestingly, Bethesda, a studio owned by Microsoft, was concerned about its promise to keepCall of Dutyon PlayStation. This has also been Sony’s biggest concern since day 1, where it refused to take any deal Microsoft had to offer. During the hearing,Phil Spencer also swore an oath to keepCall of Dutyon PlayStation, but Microsoft will only be able to honor it if the proposed acquisition is approved.
