The future of Xbox remains uncertain, and even those leading the charge seem unsure what they’ll do next. The one thing Asha Sharma seems sure of is that Xbox is not for sale. However, that didn’t stop a group of private equity firms from exploring the idea and weighing how much they might have to pay to take Xbox from Microsoft.
Private Equity Groups Considered Trying To Buy Xbox
News that private equity firms explored an Xbox buyout comes courtesy of The Information. The report reveals the group arrived at the conclusion that Xbox is worth somewhere between $100 billion and $150 billion. The identities of the interested parties have not been revealed.
It’s unclear when exactly these interested parties were investigating what it might take to acquire Xbox, but it sounds like the plan never really gained any traction. The group abandoned the idea of an acquisition so quickly that they never even reached the stage where they would have started negotiating with Xbox.
Those numbers are out there now, though, so if there are interested parties who think they can do better by Xbox than Microsoft has done in recent years, then they have a ballpark figure they’ll need to part with to try and make that happen. It’s a heck of a ballpark figure, and would comfortably be the biggest acquisition in video game history, even if someone were to get a deal over the line at the lower end of those estimates.
An Xbox Buyout Could Double The Gaming Industry’s Current Record
The current record holder for the biggest acquisition in video game history was for the company that accounts for most of Xbox’s $100 billion value – Activision Blizzard. Xbox paid $68.7 billion for Activision Blizzard in 2022. You’d hope that the studio’s value has increased since then. Even if it hasn’t, and wherever a bid might fall in that $50 billion-wide window, Activision Blizzard is currently worth at least half of Xbox’s total value.
The second biggest acquisition in video game history was the EA buyout that happened earlier this year. The controversial takeover cost Saudi’s Public Investment Fund, Silver Lake, and Affinity Partners $55 billion. It remains unclear what effect that acquisition will have on the company, although we did learn just a few hours ago that EA is bringing back Fight Night. That may have been something that was in development before the buyout took place.
Despite the unrest and uncertainty at Xbox, it seems that, for now at least, Sharma meant it when she said Xbox is not for sale. That might change in the future, and if it does, we now know how much it’s going to cost for the gaming giant to get new owners.
