One of the many reasons why Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax in 2020 caught most by surprise was that rumours claimed the company was considering buying Electronic Arts, reunite with Bungie and/or purchase a big Japanese publisher. Turns out, the latter two were actually true.
The usually very reliable Tom Warren at The Verge reveals that Xbox head Phil Spencer asked Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood permission to start acquisition talks with Sega in November 2020. He even has proof of this in the form of an internal email where Spencer states Sega:
"has built a well-balanced portfolio of games across segments with global geographic appeal, and will help us accelerate Xbox Game Pass both on and off-console."
Not that Microsoft stopped there. An internal merger review document from April 2021 also lists the former first-party studio Bungie, the Hitman and 007 developers at IO Interactive and mobile giant Zynga as other companies Xbox Game Studios seriously wanted to acquire.
An interesting trio, as Bungie is now a PlayStation studio, Zynga was acquired by Take-Two last year and IO Interactive is making a fantasy game that at least initially was set to be an Xbox console exclusive. The talks with Sega didn't go as planned either, but at least we get a lot more games from the Japanese publisher on Xbox and Game Pass these days.
Would you have preferred any of these instead of or in addition to Activision Blizzard King?