If you were an international megacorp that had just emerged into [[link]] the light, dripping from head to toe in gore after a wave of layoffs that saw over 2,500 people lose their livelihoods following a $69 billion acquisition, what would your first move be?
If you answered 'start eyeing up [[link]] more acquisitions,' then congratulations, you've got the makings of a CEO in you. In a recent chat with Bloomberg, Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer got bullish about Xbox's health, declaring that "The Xbox business has never been more healthy," even as it transitions from a plain-Jane console maker to a multiplatform dev giant. "The business is performing right now, and I think that means a more healthy future for hardware and the games we build," said Spencer. Hardware like a gaming handheld, perhaps?
In particular, Microsoft is after any big buys that would let it compete better in the battlefields of mobile and handheld: "We definitely want to be in the market," he said, and if Microsoft can nab people, tech, and companies "that add to what we’re trying to do in gaming at Microsoft, absolutely we will keep our heads up." He stresses there's nothing "imminent," though. Please refrain from dropping your life savings into mobile game stocks.
Perhaps that's why I'm not an executive. Either way, it still sounds like Spencer has big ideas about what he wants Xbox to be even after a tumultuous couple of years. That means expanding into mobile games, cloud gaming, and putting more once-upon-a-time exclusives on PlayStation—"I do not see sort of red lines in our portfolio that say 'thou must not [put more games on PlayStation].'"