Oh boy. Unbeknownst to both gamers and the press, last year Microsoft apparently tried to acquire the acclaimed Japanese gaming powerhouse Platinum Games. The scoop comes directly from industry insider Brad Sams. A notoriously well-sourced journalist about all things Microsoft and Xbox.
Pretty sure last year Microsoft was looking to buy them, guess that deal fell apart or they decided to go another direction.
— Brad Sams (@bdsams) January 31, 2020
Brad Sams just casually dropped the huge info of what was happening behind closed doors last year during a Twitter conversation with other game industry persona Daniel Ahmad a.k.a. ZhugeEX. Both have proven over the years to have trustworthy contacts inside the industry, so today’s news is quite credible.
It also aligns with Microsoft’s company policy in the near past, as well. Big M has been famously acquiring developers left and right in the goal of bolstering their first-party power. Xbox users have been unfortunate enough to have an arguably weak game lineup for almost two console generations. While the original Xbox and the Xbox 360 did a great job at securing and creating awesome and industry-defining exclusives, towards the end of last-gen things took a turn for the worse.
With Xbox users noticing how Sony and Nintendo became stronger and stronger in creating great games themselves, the Xbox brand seemed to lose its focus and identity with the disastrous launch of the Xbox One. The new leadership under Phil Spencer managed to win back a lot of goodwill and steer the Xbox in the right direction again.
As part of that, Microsoft acquired studios like Ninja Theory, Obsidian, inXile Entertainment and Double Fine. Now we learn that Platinum Games was on the table to become part of the Xbox Games Studios last year. The Japanese developer is held in very high regard among gamers for delivering some of the best action games ever made. Titles like Bayonetta, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, Nier: Automata among others would have meant that especially PlayStation and Nintendo gamers would have likely been no more able to play their games.
The deal didn’t happen though, but it remains to be seen if Microsoft is still out to diversify their in-house studios with a Japanese developer.
