Many revelations and bombshells have come to light thanks to the ongoing court case between the FTC and Microsoft surrounding the Activision Blizzard acquisition.
The latest of which is an email where the head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, admitted that one of the only ways the company could succeed in mobile gaming would be to shut down its console division and start a mobile company inside Microsoft.
Until now, much of the conversation surrounding the acquisition has focused on the possibility of Call of Duty becoming an Xbox exclusive. However, Microsoft’s attorneys are now arguing that the $68.7 billion deal is primarily mobile-motivated and has little to do with the console version of Call of Duty after all.
And now, thanks to an almost entirely unredacted email unsealed during the current FTC vs Microsoft hearing, these claims from Microsoft’s lawyers might hold a little more weight.
According to a February 2019 email exchange between Phil Spencer and Xbox Cloud Gaming Head of Product Catherine Gluckstein, Phil Spencer admits that Microsoft had no strategy to win organically in mobile gaming.
Further elaborating on that point, Phil Spencer said that the company could only hope to become a serious player in this industry segment if it shuts down its entire console division and reinvests its budget into starting an in-house mobile business.
The email illustrates the internal belief that aggressive acquisitions were Microsoft’s only growth options in the mobile gaming space.
It was also revealed during the hearing that Microsoft started negotiating over a potential purchase of Zynga two years after the internal email was sent.
However, they ultimately discarded that idea when they decided they would need to acquire an even larger company than Zynga to fuel its mobile gaming ambitions.
Niantic, the developer of Pokemon GO, was also being considered by Microsoft before they decided to pursue Activision Blizzard. Microsoft’s legal team now says this move was and is motivated by Activision Blizzard’s ownership of Candy Crush and Call of Duty Mobile.
What do you think about the latest twist in this ongoing drama? Let us know in the comments.