The Xbox boss has said it outright: everything he’s done so far can’t even come close to acquiring Activision Blizzard!

Phil Spencer spoke to Axios about perhaps the biggest surprise of the year (Sony Interactive Entertainment’s acquisition of Bungie is nowhere near the Redmond deal, financially), and he didn’t mince his words: “[It’s] something well beyond anything I’ve ever done. I don’t know that I’m equipped to do it, and the responsibility for that hits home.” (And the acquisition brings many franchises to the Microsoft fold, such as Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Warcraft, Starcraft, Overwatch, Guitar Hero, and many more IPs…)

Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, was not mentioned. Instead, he stressed, “One hundred per cent of our focus is on the teams. We know there’s work. We have our work.” He sees that although Microsoft will be the biggest employer in the US (if the FTC, the US Federal Trade Commission, gives the green light to the acquisition!), “I do not feel like we’re in a position, assuming this deal gets closed, to start to uniquely, on our own, shape policies around video games.”

Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO, did not coincidentally say a few days ago [we wrote about this too!] that after the acquisition, Tencent and Sony will still have bigger revenue than them… Spencer added, “I want to stand for things that make teams better, and people feel safe. I think we’ve been public about those things, but I would push back that we’re in some unfettered hyperpower position. I don’t believe that.”

By the way, it is not only on American soil that the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard project could fail. It will also have to pass the antitrust regulations in the European Union, and who knows, they might find something on the old continent that could stop Microsoft’s ideas.

Source: VGC