Microsoft’s acquisition of Clipchamp could boost its in-box video editing efforts

Kareem Anderson

Microsoft just announced the acquisition of video editing platform Clipchamp, and the browser-based software tool may be just the shot in the arm the company needs to lure creatives.

Today’s announcement opens up a world of possibilities for Microsoft to pivot its attempts with Windows 11, Xbox, and even Office 365 as software accessible to various video creatives.

Clipchamp, as mentioned, is a web-based video editing tool that offers various tiers of subscription-based feature sets. The most common subscription version used by people tends to the $9/month plan where users are given the essential features of video editing such as pan/zoom, crops, titles, lower thirds, sample audio, and a handful of transitions.

Clipchamp Microsoft acquisition

However, I suspect that the straightforward subscription tier of the software will go away as the company folds the platform into other aspects of its portfolio.

The templated structure of Clipchamp makes it a perfect in-box experience to help propel various properties across the company’s portfolio.

As a web app that uses the full power of your PC, Clipchamp is a natural fit to extend the cloud-powered productivity experiences in Microsoft 365 for individuals, families, schools, and businesses. It’s also a great fit for Microsoft Windows, which is a platform for boundless creativity. Whether you are editing game clips, making a school project, putting together a memory of your kids, or assembling the next indie short, Clipchamp and Microsoft will help you express yourself through the emotional power of video. If you are already a Clipchamp user, it’s all going to get better with more options, more power, and the easy creation experience you love.

For marketers, social media managers, website creators, email marketers, amateur streamers and videographers working at SMB’s, the potential of having a rudimentary video editing software tool accessible out of the box could be a big draw when comparing services such as AWS or Google Cloud, as well.

Anecdotally, I’m hoping this acquisition leads to a re-investment in Microsoft’s in-box editing tools for Windows 11, Xbox and even Office 365 (particularly in PowerPoint).

I’ve recently compared Clipchamp against other leading video editing software options for Windows such as DaVinci Resolve, Filmora and Adobe Premiere, and if rolled into Microsoft products as is, would be a great resource for the company’s billions of users across its various products.