Microsoft wants to buy more studios and not increase prices for consoles

Microsoft versus Sony. Xbox versus PlayStation. While there has been some defusing on some fronts over the past few months (cross-platform co-op/progression, for example, but also Sony’s willingness to bring exclusive games to PC at some point), the competition between the two is growing companies will continue to shape the gaming landscape in the future.

We owe the strong Xbox Game Pass about the new PlayStation Plus, available in Europe since June 2022. In which form or whether the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft will go through also depends heavily on how much pressure Sony executives continue to put on the controlling authorities. And there were also changes on the price front with the new generation of consoles: Some publishers now charge almost 80 euros for full-price titles that appear on consoles. This even includes new editions such as The Last of Us – Part I. Sony has also raised the price of the PlayStation 5, a first in games history.

Phil Spencer on acquisitions and awards

In a recent interview with CNBC, Team Xbox boss Phil Spencer gave an insight into the competition and planned actions.

Here are the key takeaways from the conversation:

• The market is currently highly competitive and with major competitors like Sony or Tencent increasing their influence through investments, Team Xbox can’t afford to hit the pause button and keep their feet still during the investigation phase of the Activision-Blizzard deal. In other words: There will be further investments in the studios that are already part of the Microsoft cosmos, but also in new partnerships and takeovers.