Before the ABK acquisition Phil said, that they have to re-evaluate their relationship with Activision and few weeks later they announced the acquisition.
Now Phil says they will work more closely with Square Enix, which means, it is just a matter of time, till they announce the SE acquisition.
I think Phil Spencer is doing this work with many Japanese publishers and studios that previously ignored Xbox. For me, a good acquisition is based on a long-term relationship. I think SEGA has infinitely more love and respect to offer Xbox. I have nothing against Square Enix, they are not in my top 3 in Japan, but I understand the interest for the IP and the back catalog. They outsource a lot of their games which is a negative for me. I don’t see that happening, but if it did it would be a real surprise and that’s fine with me, any acquisition is a step forward. But damn it, I want SEGA to be next! After that they can acquire what they want lol
Is SEGA still capable of developing fighting games? I think SEGA would work quite well with Arc System. I’m not a great specialist in fighting games, but for me, the best studio is undoubtedly NetherRealm. I love their games so much! NetherRealm is a big argument for acquiring Warner. Having Mortal Kombat exclusively on Xbox would probably sell consoles. NetherRealm is the perfect candidate for Killer Instinct, or a possible fighting game in the Blizzard universe. I think there is no better possible choice for Microsoft.
She is in charge of partnerships with 3rd party devs. This is more a tease of bigger relation with Sega than talking about acquisition, which is Phil territory.
Also teasing acquisition of a public company can have stock value effects that regulators hate.
The question is will they explore an acquisition again with Sega and while I think the teasing is for something else, I do think they will if they are allowed to.
Also Bandai. They did a lot of work on Smash Ultimate and Tekken is still very big in the FTC. Soul calibur used to be huge, but has fallen off in the past decade.
For acquisition? Not a chance. For some kind of strategic partnership or (more likely in my opinion) a game release? Sure, maybe. Or maybe she’s just goofing around.