Xbox boss Phil Spencer took to Twitter to congratulate Sony for acquiring Returnal studio Housemarque, and told IGN that he thinks dismissing mergers and acquisitions is “short-sighted.”Following Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media, there was a lot of debate in the industry about the impact of acquisitions. Spencer said that he noticed some negative reactions to the move, and suggested that M&As are a healthy part of business.Speaking to IGN, Spencer said:I know sometimes I see dialogue out in the industry about, well, are acquisitions a good thing or a bad thing. One thing I’ll put out there is… starting a new studio — starting any small business, frankly, is a very risky proposition, starting a video game studio even more so. And if a team actually takes the risk of starting a new company, starting a new studio, building that over years, building value in that. To say they shouldn’t sell, I think, is just short-sighted.Spencer went on to add that smaller studios often benefit from the financial security and resources offered by bigger companies, making acquisitions a valuable proposition for them.It’s such a risk-filled journey for them to get to the point to create real value. I’m always going to congratulate when teams get to the point where they realize that value through acquisition or just massive independent success… many of those leaders will go off and start other things over time. It’s kind of the natural turnover that happens with entrepreneurs and startup businesses.Sony has denied that it’s in an “arm’s race” when it comes to acquisitions, arguing that it’s very selective with its studios.[Source: IGN]
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