Overcharge if old.
Microsoft gaming chief Phil Spencer sizes up company's Activision deal
Xbox chief says it's personally 'daunting,' but downplays industry impact
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Spencer tells Axios that he feels responsible to ensure that the thousands of employees who come on board will feel there is "a long-term place for them where they can do their best work in a supported way.”
Though the purchase could make Microsoft the largest employer of game developers in the United States, Spencer pushes back at the idea that his gaming team could set new industry standards about pay-scale, unionization and more.
- “I do not feel like we're in a position, assuming this deal gets closed, to start to uniquely, on our own, shape policies around video games.”
- Spencer, like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, says Microsoft would become only the third biggest company in terms of gaming revenue, behind Sony and Tencent.
- “I want to stand for things that make teams better and people feel safe. I think we've been public about those things, but I would push back that we're in some kind of hyper power position that is unfettered. I don't believe that.”
Spencer maintains Microsoft's bid was greatly influenced by the completion of the company’s $7.5-billion-dollar ZeniMax/Bethesda gaming deal in early 2021. “The board of Microsoft, on the day that we got approval for ZeniMax, asked, 'What was next?'”
The bottom line: Spencer is focused on raising player counts for Microsoft’s games these days, and says he will consider the Activision Blizzard deal a success if it succeeds there.
- “And the constant conversation had always been about mobile and casual”
- Activision Blizzard’s most popular division, King, is a mobile giant with 240 million monthly users.
- “The longest goal for us is: ‘Do creators on our platform feel like they have the best opportunity to reach the maximum number of players with the maximum creative diversity that they need?'” he said.