Microsoft's internal emails reveal list of potential acquisition targets

Internal documents from the FTC v Microsoft hearing have revealed that Microsoft had several major developers and publishers on their list for potential acquisitions back in 2021. As reported by The Verge, Microsoft's shortlist consists of developers like IO Interactive (Hitman, Project 007), Supergiant Games (Hades), Thunderful (Steamword, The Gunk), Niantic (Pokemon GO) and Bungie (Destiny 2).

All these teams were on Microsoft's Mergers and Acquisitions final watchlist which means the company seriously considered or is still considering acquiring some of these studios. Obviously, some teams have been bought by other companies since then, which means Microsoft missed out on the opportunity to add them to their Microsoft Gaming umbrella.

The Verge

The list included some pretty big companies but it remains to be seen if the interest from Microsoft is still there now that Activision Blizzard is set to join their Gaming division

Interestingly, a wider list also surfaced online, revealing the top 17 candidates for acquisitions, including developers like Remedy Entertainment and Crytek and publishers like SEGA and Paradox Interactive.

Though, it does look like that Microsoft have narrowed down their focus to the companies that are featured in the final list above.  

The Verge

Microsoft's top 17 candidates for acquisitions. Obviously, some of these won't be happening as they have joined other companies

Hitman developer IO Interactive seem to be, or at least was, one of the strongest candidates for joining Xbox Game Studios, as they are already working on an Xbox-exclusive game, codenamed Project Dragon. The game will be published by Xbox Game Studios Publishing unless something changed over the last two years. 

Thunderful are another potential acquisition that is likely to happen in the near future as they own a very unique portfolio of games and plenty of those games end up being on Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft's support for the studio has been growing over the last couple of years so it's certainly one to watch.

IOI

IO Interactive's new project is an online fantasy RPG and according to Microsoft's internal documents, it's an Xbox exclusive

Given that these documents are from 2021, it's possible that Microsoft are no longer looking at these studios for potential acquisitions given that they are in the process of buying Activision Blizzard, which covers most of their needs for Game Pass expansion. 

However, according to the documents, Microsoft's key growth area is still the Asian market and the Activision Blizzard deal doesn't help them with that so it will be interesting to see if a big move for a publisher like SEGA is still on the table. 

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