According to a rumor spread by Thurrott’s Brad Sams, Microsoft might be looking into the acquisition of Discord.
Discord is a proprietary freeware VoIP application and digital distribution platform designed for video gaming communities. It currently has 130 million users.
Considering how Microsoft wants to get back in gaming and communities as strong as the times of Xbox 360, really focusing on what gaming is, that would make sense.
That wouldn’t be an obstacle to Skype, which is indeed more tailored to casual users, families, small companies and business.
Another rumor that was apparently true is Microsoft’s effort to try and acquire Electronic Arts, something we’ve already heard in the past and Sams confirms.
Anyway, a deal wasn’t signed for some reasons, specifically, as explained by Phil Spencer at a Barclays convention without naming EA, the company has been looking into different acquisitions.
Particularly, Spencer explained that a publisher comes not only with studios and talents – which is the stuff Xbox is interested in – but also with a big structure that Microsoft already has.
So that would be a duplicate in Redmond’s vision, especially going into the generation of Xbox Scarlett which is reported to be kicking off in 2020.
“If you watch the studio acquisitions we’ve done, we’re focused on creative teams that we think can build very interesting content to help the flywheel Game Pass grow and our platforms grow,” Spencer said.
“We’re probably less interested in management teams and infrastructure and things that we already have inside of our organization. And you can just look at the track record. We’ve added seven studios in six months, and if you look at them, I think you’ll see certain evaluations.”
“So yeah,” he added. “Our focus hasn’t been on going out and adding duplicative functions that we’d be paying for that I don’t think we need, but more on how we can find the creative independent teams out there. And I feel really good about the path that we’re on right now.”
This is the reason why, while there’s been a talk between the two companies, EA x Microsoft isn’t going to happen anytime soon.
