In an interview with Twinfinite, Xbox Games Marketing Manager Aaron Greenberg had some notable comments concerning Microsoft’s recent expansion of their first-party game output. Following the purchases of Double Fine Productions, Ninja Theory, Playground Games, Obsidian, and more, Greenberg stated Microsoft “feels good” about the growth made in the past year. “You never know, but right now I think where we are […] we feel really good about the amount of content we’re getting from that…” Since 2018, Microsoft has since acquired and/or established 8 studios, varying in size and strength. Currently, Microsoft owns more studios than their rival Sony Interactive Entertainment, who recently acquired Insomniac Games as their 14th subsidiary for their Worldwide Studios coalition.
Microsoft has become rather outspoken about their future. For the past year or so, the company has been discussing their ventures into cloud streaming, on-demand services such as Xbox Game Pass, investing into PC gaming, and of course, their next-generation Xbox console codenamed Project Scarlett. Executives such as Phil Spencer have emphasized the importance of content output and sustaining a strong lineup of exclusives. Whether Microsoft will achieve that goal remains to be seen; however, their aggressive expansion indicates that the company wants to restore consumer trust in the Xbox brand.
Resting at 15 studios, some of which are decorated with lauded games, Xbox Game Studios should have little trouble publishing well-received games. Of course, Sony has the same ambitions as Microsoft and has started picking up big names to prepare for next-gen as well.
