It would seem that Microsoft has some cash burning a hole in its pocket.
The Xbox giant is reportedly eying up some acquisitions via the $130bn it has sat in the bank. A piece from Polygon says that a source close to Microsoft has said it has looked into buying Electronic Arts, as well as Valve and PUBG Corp.
Microsoft, of course, partnered up with the latter last year to publish Playerunknown's Battlegrounds on Xbox One.
This news comes amid what appears to be a strategy period for Microsoft - with news that Forza Horizon makers Playground Games is reportedly making a new Fable game, alongside rumours of The Coalition of Gears of War fame making a fresh Perfect Dark title, the Xbox giant is making big plans for the coming years right now. Lots of meetings; lots of chat; lots of people around the world to share such information.
This also comes on the back of Phil Spencer's promotion to EVP of Microsoft's games business.
“Because of where we are in the lifecycle of all these things, I’m expecting to hear Microsoft announce something very, very shortly,” SuperData boss Joost van Dreunen told Polygon.
So, how likely do we think these deals are? Microsoft and EA would, well, make a lot of sense. The Windows firm needs first party content and EA has that in spades with the likes of FIFA, Battlefront and Battlefield.
Valve could help Microsoft establish itself more in the PC games market, but having already invested much time and money into providing its own alternative version of PC gaming via Universal Windows Platform, that is less likely.
PUBG is, frankly, off the table. By going after the company behind Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, Microsoft would find itself in a bidding war with Chinese tech and entertainment giant Tencent and that's honestly not a fight that Microsoft could win. PUBG Corp and Bluehole do seem to be after a buyer, but we'd be surprised to see them go to Microsoft.