It’s been revealed today that Microsoft and Team Xbox have considered purchasing the likes of SEGA and Bungie in the past, with the information surfacing courtesy of The Verge as part of this week’s FTC hearing.
In fact, the outlet has even got email proof of this from November 2020, which shows Xbox boss Phil Spencer writing to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood about his interest in acquiring SEGA:
“I am writing to request Strategy Approval to approach Sega Sammy regarding a potential acquisition of their Sega gaming studios.”
“We believe that Sega has built a well-balanced portfolio of games across segments with global geographic appeal, and will help us accelerate Xbox Game Pass both on and off-console.”
In addition to SEGA, a “Final Watchlist” from 2021 highlights an interest in the following companies:
Obviously none of these came to fruition, and Bungie actually ended up being acquired by Sony. It’s unknown why they didn’t happen, aside from Zynga which Microsoft ended up passing on in favour of acquiring Activision Blizzard. SEGA was apparently still listed as a “key target” in a merger review document from April 2021.
There was a lot of talk for a long time that Microsoft might have been interested in buying SEGA, so it’s very interesting to learn it was actually true! It doesn’t seem very likely anymore, but we’d certainly love to see it happen…