One of the major complaints against Xbox right now is a lack of first-party studios in comparison to their competitors at PlayStation and Nintendo. Phil Spencer, Head of Xbox, has talked repeatedly about how Xbox needs to grow more first-party content and how they intend to do just that. Some new information has surfaced and if everything here pans out, Microsoft may have just taken a major step in addressing these criticisms. According to information first uncovered by ResetEra user Rodneybouch, Microsoft may acquire Playground Games.
Here’s the information relating to how Microsoft may acquire Playground Games:
Rodneybouch noticed an interesting update on Playground Games’ official filing history. As of May 29th, 2018, Keith Ranger Dolliver has been appointed as a Director. Keith has served as Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Microsoft for many years. He works in Corporate Development, and was appointed as Director for Rare, Lionhead and Skype when Microsoft acquired each of those companies.
Playground has worked exclusively with Microsoft during their time as a video game development studio. They’ve been in charge of the critically acclaimed Forza Horizon series, including Forza Horizon 3, the highest-rated exclusive title on the Xbox One. They’ve also undertaken building a second studio team in Royal Leamington Spa, a team rumored to be working on a Fable reboot.
This kind of acquisition absolutely makes sense for Microsoft and it’s the kinds of moves the Xbox brand needs. While it’s important to note this is technically still conjecture, the evidence is very strong. Hopefully we’ll learn more at E3 2018.
