With 23 in-house development studios, Xbox now has dozens of exclusive licenses. A strength that the company has often lacked in the past and especially in the early days. While Microsoft came out with the first Xbox in 2001, the manufacturer quickly considered taking over external and renowned studios. And among them Blizzard and Westwood Studios!
Honeymoon close by
In an interview that will soon be published on Xboxsquad, Ed Fries returned to the early years of Xbox life. The man who was Vice President of Publishing when it launched in 2001 tells how Microsoft almost signed Westwood Studios. The parents of Command and conquer
I reached out to Westwood Studios who did Command & Conquer, it was almost signed. Everything was decided, but I had my honeymoon at the same time. I’ve told my teams, “Don’t screw it up while I’m gone.” When I return, I learn that there has been an incident. Ultimately, EA had the final say.
If the details are not mentioned, it is easy to imagine that it is all about money. Good deals are usually not enough to get business done, and Microsoft sees this more than once.
Microsoft wanted to buy Blizzard
The takeover attempts by Square-Enix and Nintendo are known. American society is quick to reject, but it does not despair. In addition, there are ways in the American market and the teams are enthusiastic. One of them leads to Blizzard.
At the time, Blizzard was just getting released Diablo ii
There was also blizzard. It started off well, relations were good, but the carpet was pulled from under our feet by another company, this time from France: Vivendi.
Fortunately, none of this comes in the form of failures for Microsoft. The takeover of Bungie, Rare or even the founding of Turn10 are great satisfaction. Even so, it’s strange to imagine that Warcraft could have become an Xbox license. The industry would undoubtedly have a completely different face
