During a recent interview, Xbox boss Phil Spencer discussed the upcoming acquisition of Activision Blizzard, his view on the metaverse, and his thoughts on how Xbox, Nintendo, and PlayStation share a “long-term ambition” for the industry.
Phil Spencer spoke to Bloomberg about how he “feels good about the progress” that Microsoft has made with the deal, along with his thoughts on how Xbox’s “long-term growth trajectory” is strong even with people putting in less gaming hours after the pandemic.
Phil Spencer shared his thoughts on Microsoft’s upcoming acquisition of Activision Blizzard
When asked about the status of Microsoft’s acquisition, Spencer says, “Big deals should be scrutinised… I feel good about the progress that we’ve been making, asking good hard questions about, ‘OK, what is our intent. What does this mean. If you play it out over five years is this constricting the market.’ I feel good about it.” Last November, reports suggested that Spencer was “evaluating” the relationship with Activision Blizzard after new allegations against Activision Blizzard’s Bobby Kotick. Now, when asked if Kotick will stay on, Spencer simply says, “I’m not in a position to make comments about that… like when the deal closes, then we have a say in how they’re managed and how it goes. But until that point, I’m not really in a position to say.”
Spencer also mentioned that the amount of hours spent playing games in general has come down a bit since the pandemic — “which I will say I think is a good thing, people should get outside,” Spencer jokes. “People should moderate.” Yet he adds that “Long-term growth trajectory for the business is incredibly durable and