Xbox seems to be open to acquisitions as it strives to be a major key player

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Microsoft's chief of gaming has stated that the company is open to more acquisitions as it strives to make Xbox a "big player" in the industry.

In an interview with CNBC, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer was asked if Microsoft wants to halt acquisition activity while it awaits regulatory approval to complete its planned $68.7 billion merger with Activision Blizzard.

"This is such a competitive business," Spencer answered, "I don't think we deserve to wait on anything." "Tencent is the world's largest gaming corporation, and they continue to substantially spend in gaming content and game producers." Sony has a larger gaming industry than we have now, and they continue to invest.

It's a very, very competitive market, he continued, "when you look at the investments that we've done." We want to be a key role in this. We will continue to be active if it means investing in the internal teams that are already creating well-known and loved games or forming new collaborations in order to provide our players with excellent content.

While attending the Tokyo Game Show in Japan, Spencer was speaking.

One of his favorite aspects of visiting Tokyo was the chance to meet with developers, discuss potential collaborations with companies like Kojima Productions, and visit with some of his current publishing partners and independent game developers.

And we're involved there too if it turns into acquisitive M&A work. As a result, our job never stops. I want to ensure that Xbox is at the forefront of innovation and competition in this market.

In light of rising gaming industry consolidation and worries about antitrust issues, regulators from around the world are currently looking closely at Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Due to a number of issues, UK watchdog the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced on Thursday that its probe into the agreement has been officially expanded to a more in-depth second phase.

In particular, it is concerned about how the merger may affect PlayStation's capacity for competition given that Microsoft would acquire control of the Call of Duty franchise as part of the agreement.

Microsoft's dominance over titles like Call of Duty, according to Sony, "would have huge negative ramifications for gamers and the future of the gaming industry."

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In response to the CMA's announcement, Xbox stated that "removing Call of Duty off PlayStation makes zero commercial sense given its market leading console position."

Spencer also told CNBC that while Microsoft presently has no plans to raise Xbox system costs, doing so in the future is not out of the question.