Xbox head Phil Spencer: “Investment in mobile gaming a crucial reason for Activision’s takeover”

Microsoft stated January of this year that it planned to buy out Activision Blizzard in a deal worth nearly $70 billion.

Despite the fact that regulators such as the United States’ Federal Trade Commission and the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority are looking into the arrangement, Microsoft expects it will be completed by the end of the fiscal year in 2023. Of course, such a momentous transaction generates a slew of issues. One of them is why Microsoft would take the risk, especially given Activision Blizzard’s continuous problems with abuse claims.

“The biggest gaming platform on the planet is mobile phones,” says Head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, in an interview with Bloomberg. “One and a half billion people play on mobile phones. I guess, regretfully as Microsoft, it’s not a place where we have a native platform. As gaming, coming from console and PC, we don’t have a lot of creative capability that has built hit mobile games…but we really started the discussions, internally at least, on Activision Blizzard around the capability they had on mobile, and then PC with Blizzard. Those are the two things that were really driving our interest.”

Both Activision and Blizzard have had several major mobile hits. Candy Crush Saga, developed by King and bought by Activision Blizzard in February 2016, is one of the most popular. There are other games like Call of Duty: Mobile and Hearthstone, which received a mobile release shortly after their initial PC release and have been huge hits for the publisher. Even Diablo Immortal, which had a lukewarm response from fans, managed to earn massively in its first two weeks as a free-to-play game.

To be sure, Microsoft’s existing mobile gaming products aren’t very outstanding. Many of the mobile games developed by Xbox must be regarded failures, with the noteworthy exception of the mobile version of Minecraft (another high-profile Xbox purchase). In reality, a handful of those mobile games, including some based on prominent Xbox franchises (Gears Pop!, Forza Street, and Age of Empires: Castle Siege), have had their servers decommissioned.

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Microsoft’s rationale is understandable in certain aspects. Mobile gaming is an ever-growing business that currently accounts for the bulk of income for several big game studios. There’s a lot to be written about the mobile gaming industry’s faults in terms of creative standards and commercial procedures, but you can’t ignore its development. Mobile gaming is a huge money producer that many corporations are continuing to invest in.