It appears that Microsoft’s ambition to push new acquisitions us not done just yet. In the last couple of weeks, the Xbox company just finalized its purchase for Zenimax Media, the parent company for Bethesda. So namely franchises such as Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, and Doom are now under the ownership of Microsoft. But, it does not stop there. And it is no surprise.
Back in October 2020, Phil Spencer in an interview with Game Reactor did indicate that the firm is still looking to pursue other avenues for Xbox first-party studios. Mainly, Microsoft has boasted its pursuit to directly expand its Xbox Game Pass library and purchasing thriving game studios is the way that the company wants to execute that.
But it appears now that the firm is looking to also take chatting applications as well. In a new report from Bloomberg, Microsoft is planning to purchase Discord for $10 billion. Already, Microsoft is notorious for its acquisition of Skype back in 2011. But now, the firm is looking to pursue a new communications juggernaut as well in the coming months.
One thing that many are overlooking from the report is that Microsoft is not the only one to appear to be pursuing the purchase from one segment of the report. “Microsoft is in the running, but no deal is imminent, said the people… Discord is more likely to go public than sell itself, one person said” So the window is big enough for other competitors to also take a jab at an acquisition aside from Microsoft.
Some would suspect that Microsoft is also making the purchase to develop a dedicated Discord app for Xbox. But, the application on desktop can be streamed via browser on the Chronium version of Microsoft Edge which shows to possibly not be the case now. However as per The Verge’s Tom Warren, he indicates that it is for Microsoft to move Discord from Google Cloud to Microsoft-owned Azure which would directly bring new traffic to the company.
Other users online believe the purchase is in part to retaliate against the recent acquisition of Evolution Championship Series made by Sony Interactive Entertainment last week, but no evidence suggests and foundation on the claim. You can read the full report by heading here.
Are you in support or against the possible purchase?
Source: Bloomberg
