According to some sources, Xbox is “testing” the studies behind it Tomb Raider, Hitman e Just Cause in view of potential future acquisitions. Its goal is to try before you buy. Here are all the details.
Tomb Raider, Just Cause and Hitman: Xbox is planning to buy them?
During the last episode of the “Grubb Snax” podcast, GamesBeat’s Jeff Grubb talked about Xbox plans for the next few years. After listing the latest and upcoming Xbox releases, including Psychonauts 2, Deathloop e Forza Horizon 5, Grubb talks about believing Xbox is happy with its next list and so is looking to try out some studios with the goal of potentially acquire them in the future, if all goes according to plan.
The podcast host then uses some examples of studios he believes have been O will be “proven” from Xbox. In the discussion he talked about Crystal Dynamics (Rise of the Tomb Raider, Perfect Dark), IO Interactive (Hitman 3, Project 007) e Avalanche Studios (Just Cause 3, Contraband) owned by Square Enix.
“Maybe that’s how Xbox is thinking. He says’ let’s bring Crystal Dynamics and get them to work on this game with The Initiative ‘”, explains Grubb,“’ Let’s get to know them, see how they perform and if they meet our standards. At that point they will say ‘hey, Square Enix, are you interested in selling Crystal Dynamics?’ ”.
As for the other two studies, Grubb suspects that Avalanche is currently on trial as well as IO Interactive. “I think that’s what’s happening with Avalanche, I assume they’re on trial,” says Grubb.
“Xbox is working with IO Interactive and I believe the studio is on trial.”
It seems unlikely that Square Enix is trying to sell one of its biggest Western studios but you never know how these things unfold fully. However, IO and Avalanche are likely to make the leap to become part of the Xbox ecosystem, especially with Microsoft and Sony having bought many studios recently.
That said, as long as both sides don’t sign and offer further official details, anything can happen, then take this information with a grain of salt.