Microsoft is still in the market for acquisitions despite having splashed out $69 billion for Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard just last year.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer said he’s up for buying more companies, although cautioned that nothing’s “imminent” and big deals are off the table for now.

So, if Microsoft does open its wallet once again, what might it spend its billions on? Deals that add “geographic diversity,” including in Asia, might be worthwhile, Spencer said.

Apparently Microsoft’s eyeing up buying another mobile company (Microsoft picked up Candy Crush maker King as part of the Activision Blizzard acquisition).

“We definitely want to be in the market, and when we can find teams and technology and capability that add to what we’re trying to do in gaming at Microsoft, absolutely we will keep our heads up,” Spencer said.

Microsoft is still busy absorbing Activision Blizzard employees, Spencer added, which is why very large deals are probably impossible right now. But that leaves the door open for major acquisitions in the future.

Spencer and co. will probably find future acquisitions easier to get over the line after Donald Trump becomes U.S. president in January. Microsoft faced a tough battle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over the Activision Blizzard deal — a battle it ultimately won. Wall Street is said to be foaming at the mouth with all the possible mergers and acquisitions that may now go through with Trump as president.

The focus, it seems, is fleshing out its mobile offering ahead of launching an app store of its own. But Microsoft’s App Store and Google Play rival has suffered a number of delays, with staff still trying to figure out a plan. According to Bloomberg, Microsoft still doesn’t have an effective way to get its own store on mobile phones, delaying the launch further.

Microsoft’s gaming aquisition ambitions continue despite cutting an eye-watering 2,550 staff just this year alone, with Xbox mobile game development teams recently hit hard.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

Microsoft Gaming boss Phil Spencer has confirmed the company’s plan to release an Xbox handheld, but stressed it’s years away from release.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Spencer said the “expectation is that we would do something” in the handheld game devices category, but such a device is a few years out.

Microsoft, Spencer said, is currently working on prototypes and considering what it might do, with its team developing its vision for a handheld based on what it learns from looking at the market.

Stalker 2 developer GSC Game World has confirmed the game’s final PC system requirements ahead of its release date of November 20, 2024.

“Examine the final system requirements carefully, and adjust your machinery for a trouble-free connection to the Noosphere,” GSC tweeted.

GSC provides four graphics presets here: low; medium; high; and epic, as well as a target resolution and FPS for each. The high graphics preset is what GSC calls recommended, and provides 60fps gameplay at 1440p.

For that high graphics preset, you’ll need a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 Ti / RTX 4070 or AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT GPU and 32GB of RAM. Low and medium require 16GB of RAM and less powerful GPUs.

All graphics presets, however, require 160GB of SSD storage, which is a significant footprint worth bearing in mind if you’re planning on playing.

Star Trek actor Tim Russ plays Sylens in Lego Horizon Adventures, IGN can confirm.

Russ, who famously plays Tuvok in Star Trek: Voyager, assumes the role of Sylens after Horizon developer Guerrilla Games recast the character following the death of Lance Reddick in March 2023.

Sylens is the deuteragonist of Horizon Zero Dawn and a returning character in its sequel. He allies with protagonist Aloy to discover the truth behind the machines and the fate of the Old Ones. IGN’s Lego Horizons Adventures review returned a 7/10. We said: “Lego Horizon Adventures reimagines Horizon Zero Dawn with a playful Lego twist, simplifying the story while keeping the heart of its key moments and characters.”

Russ played Jetakka in 2022’s Horizon Forbidden West, so has a history with Guerrilla’s action adventure series.

Stellar Blade developer Shift Up has confirmed plans to release the PS5 action game on PC in 2025.

In a financial report, the South Korean company pointed to Black Myth: Wukong’s incredible success on Steam, adding it expects to see more sales on PC than on PS5.

The Sony Interactive Entertainment-published Stellar Blade launched exclusively on PS5 in April and sold more than one million copies in two months. IGN’s Stellar Blade review returned a 7/10. We said: “Stellar Blade is great in all of the most important ways for an action game, but dull characters, a lackluster story, and several frustrating elements of its RPG mechanics prevent it from soaring along with the best of the genre.”

Since then, Shift Up has continued to update the game and even added crossover DLC with other video game franchises, most recently Nier: Automata.

In its financial report, Shift Up said that after Stellar Blade’s launch “sales continued at a stabilized level,” although it failed to provide an updated sales figure. It did, however, provide revenue directly attributed to the game: 25.8 billion won (approx $18.5 million) during the quarter Stellar Blade came out (April to June), and 22.5 billion won (approx $16.1 million) during the company’s third quarter (July to September). That’s a total of 48.4 billion won (approx $34.6 million) as of the end of September.

For context, Shift Up’s other game, mobile action RPG Goddess of Victory: Nikke, makes more money than Stellar Blade (approx $51.9 million during the same two quarters).

“To enhance the IP value and maintain momentum, we have been consistently releasing content patches and updates, which has helped sustain the game’s popularity,” it said.

Shift Up plans to keep interest in Stellar Blade on PS5 going until the game launches on PC next year, what it calls the “platform expansion.”

“The release is being considered within 2025,” Shift Up confirmed. “Considering recent trends such as Steam’s expanding market share in the AAA game sector and the global success of Black Myth: Wukong, we expect the performance on PC to exceed that on consoles.”

In July, Shift Up raised 435 billion won ($320 million) in its first day of trade after an initial public offering. According to Bloomberg, that was the largest in the country for a gaming company since 2021, when PUBG maker Krafton Inc. raised $3.8 billion from its own IPO.

Shift Up has an unannounced multiplatform RPF codenamed Project witches in the works. It said it plans to launch it at some point after 2027, with more information due in the first half of next year. Given the success of Stellar Blade, it seems likely Shift Up is also considering a sequel.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.