Microsoft, Amazon and Google are looking to reinforce their respective gaming businesses with new development studio acquisitions, according to journalist Brad Sams.
Sams, of BWWMediaGroup, was speaking on a new video show about multiple acquisitions that are currently moving along "right now".
Microsoft, Amazon and Google Looking To Acquire More Game Studios – Report
Check out the video below:
“I’ve been hearing a lot of conversations behind closed doors about acquisitions in the industry. There’s a lot of moving things going on right now,” Sams explained.
“It’s hard to see which companies are going to get snatched up and by what vendors… but I can tell you there are some big industry names out there being approached by Microsoft included, but then you also have Amazon, and you also have Google."
“Sony is part of the conversation, but it doesn’t seem to be as much as Google and Amazon are when Microsoft enters the fold. You also have EA: look what happened with Codemasters for example,” he added, referring to the publisher's recent purchase of the veteran racing game studio.
Recently we've also seen Microsoft acquire Zenimax, bringing Bethesda's stable of developers under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella.
Investment in videogames has been booming as many industries count the cost of the COVID-19, and Sams notes that it's set to continue.
“You have Amazon and Facebook who genuinely need new IP, and you have Microsoft which is building up this gaming solution called Game Pass, and there are a lot of companies who are just being snatched up from under each other," Sams notes.
“Be on the lookout for acquisitions… I’m hearing a lot of things going on, and I know of three specific acquisition targets for various companies going on right now.”
It's exciting to see the industry grow, but let's hope there aren't too many great games locked behind console exclusivity.