Comcast, the largest broadband and cable TV provider in the US, has apparently turned its attention towards the gaming industry.
It has been a couple of rough years for the company, with the cable and broadband subscribers leaving it for the likes of Verizon and T-Mobile, and its stake in Hulu looking meager by the minute. To counter this and expand the already massive media and entertainment vertical of the company, Comcast is reportedly looking into acquiring one of the major video gaming developers.
The CEO of Comcast, Brian Roberts, had previously explored a deal wherein he wished to collaborate with Electronic Arts, the famed developer of Star Wars games series, as well as Madden NFL series, which is most prominent in the US.
This deal was being discussed last year and clearly failed to go through. However, it is apparent that Roberts is still dedicated to expanding his media empire and bring in additional mediums of content to retain his company’s waning customer base. Speculations say that Roberts is in midst of discussing possible collaborations or acquisitions with several other notable video game developers, including Nintendo Co., Take-Two Interactive, and even Activision-Blizzard. That last one is indeed surprising, as Activision Blizzard is already being acquired by Microsoft.
It’s unsure whether Comcast wants to get into the console market or the video game development business. In any way, with Roberts supposedly anticipated to drop off his Hulu shares this year, it’s clear that he wants to be open for another major acquisition. The companies he has been rumored to be talking with are stalwarts in their industry, with both acquisitions and licensing deals looking improbable.
However, since the Microsoft Activision-Blizzard deal, it’s clear that more and more media giants are looking at the gaming sector in a whole new light. This is especially real, considering the major impact upcoming cloud gaming segment, that is primarily based on encouraging players to conduct in-game transactions with real money, will attract only more and more investors in near future.
Source – The Middle Market
