this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2026
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Why did Microsoft buy all these studios if the plan was to never actually have them make anything?
I've been asking that since they bought Rare and proceeded to do nothing with them.
Embrace, extend, and extinguish
Thats something you use to stop competitors before they get big, but MS was never part of the game publisher circle and doesnt't seem to try either.
I agree.
It didn't stop M$ trying the strategy though.
Fear of missing out. It is institutionally ingrained into Microsoft when they were publicly burned for "missing out on the internet."
It's just like destroying all the health pickups in a multiplayer game so the other team can't heal, I guess.
For a long time, their value proposition was "use us because what else can you do?" Trying to monololize the gaming industry by buying up whatever good studios they can is just a part of that.
Because it's run by fucking idiots with MBAs who have no connection whatsoever to the company's profits and losses.
They wanted to own existing IP. Not make new stuff. Buy an asset, milk it, and that'll do. Any words about long-term maybe were lies.
Yes, but what's the point of owning the IP if you're not releasing any new media with it, or even re-releasing the old stuff.
It's not like we get a bunch of HD Collections out of it. Hell Activision's take on Wolfenstein hasn't even been re-released even though with Id and Activision owned by the same company there should be no issues.
Effort vs profitability to rework. Any content immediately releasable as part of gamepass was probably highest value to them.
Looking for exclusivity of games to "beat" other companies. As always is their model of "force people to pay us" instead of "make something compelling". Its the Microsoft way.
my best guess is the people who signed off the purchases aren't the same people who evaluate the value of the things they have purchased
If you buy up all your potential competition, you have no competition.
Bethesda and Activision-Blizzard were never competition though
It was about xbox and windows vs other consoles/steam etc
Never know if they'd start doing exclusivity deals with Sony shrug
I miss when Phil Spencer was talking about reviving Heroes of the Storm and Skylanders, he was never gonna do it, but I liked the hopium.