What you need to know
- According to internal documents from the FTC v. Microsoft hearing, Microsoft was at one point interested in acquiring both Bungie and Sega.
- In 2020, Phil Spencer sent Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Microsoft CFO Amy Hood an email in which he requested strategy approval to approach Sega Sammy and discuss acquiring its game developers.
- Bungie, the creators of the original Halo games and the Destiny franchise, were also spotted on a Microsoft acquisition watchlist from 2021.
- Microsoft's interest in both companies was largely Xbox Game Pass related, with the firm planning to use their IP to grow Game Pass subscriptions. Reportedly, Microsoft identified Destiny 2 as one of the “highest hours generating titles on console Game Pass.”
- It's unclear what happened to Microsoft's plans for talks with Sega, though Bungie was acquired by Sony in 2022.
