Media: Microsoft considered shutting down its gaming division before acquiring ZeniMax and Activision Blizzard
In 2021, Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella did not rule out the possibility of shutting down the corporation's gaming division. This was reported by The Information, citing its sources.
Starfield
According to the publication's sources, the development of Game Pass was the stumbling block. Major companies were reluctant to agree to have their games on the subscription — at least several "leading game studios" rejected Microsoft's proposal to add their projects to Game Pass.
As a result, four years ago, The Information writes, Nadella faced a serious choice: acquire major developers to grow Game Pass or shutter Xbox.
Nadella opted for acquisitions. Notably, in March 2021, Microsoft became the owner of ZeniMax Media, which owns Bethesda Softworks, id Software, and several other renowned studios, and in October 2023, it acquired Activision Blizzard. It should be noted that Microsoft announced the purchase of ZeniMax Media back in fall 2020, which was before Nadella began considering the potential closure of Xbox, according to The Information.
The Information's article states that shortly before acquiring Activision Blizzard, the corporation set a goal to increase Game Pass subscribers to 100 million by 2030. According to official data, as of February 2024, Game Pass had 34 million subscribers. It is unknown how much that number has increased to this day, but in any case, Microsoft needs to attract many more subscribers to achieve this goal.
It is also reported that Microsoft hoped that following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, game companies would more frequently use the Azure cloud platform. However, according to The Information’s sources, even Activision Blizzard still prefers using Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services.
