If Microsoft’s plans are true and the company picks up either EA or Valve, it would simply be huge. Firstly, it would be among the biggest tech deals in history. Secondly, many believe it would provide a major disruption to the gaming industry. EA is the world’s largest game publisher. If Microsoft folded the company into Xbox, the company would have huge power over the industry. Similarly, Valve would give Microsoft a lot of clout over other gaming giants. However, Newell says any deal with Microsoft is unlikely. A fan asked him if “Valve is being brought by Microsoft [because] the community is shaken.” While the response has not been officially attributed to Newell, it seems it was the company founder. He simply offered, “Not that I’m aware of.” Ok, some more details would have been nice. There are two ways to twist this: Newell is shutting this rumor down before it takes off, or he is being evasive and something is happening behind the scenes. Of course, there is also a good chance the reply is fake. We’ll let you decide and discuss which one if may be.
Potential Acquisitions
While Microsoft is supposedly flirting with EA and Valve, the company did drop some cash to purchase cloud gaming company PlayFab. PlayFab is a cloud-based company that provides game management and analytics solutions. Among its services are virtual currency tracking, leaderboards, authentication, commerce, and more.
