Take this with a grain of salt given the source, but Sega is supposedly not interested in being acquired for now. They think Xbox appreciates them the most out of any platform holder though, which is dumb imo.
It's Bloomberg Takahashi, known anti-PS clown & tard. He was salivating to post this.
As for Sega...look I'll say it again. Out of ANY Japanese publisher, they are the only one MS has a realistic chance of acquiring. They have history with them going back to the late '90s. Some people may not like to hear this, but it's true. Sega's corporate DNA has also always been partly Western, since it was formed from a Japanese/American (Hawaiian, specifically) merger, and David Rosen (an American) was one of the two to form it.
Sega also historically have made arguably the worst business decisions of any platform holder, though Microsoft themselves are gunning for that title these days.
So I wouldn't be surprised if MS finds a means of acquiring Sega/Atlus, though they'll have to content with a much fiercer Nintendo (Sonic is huge on Nintendo's platforms) in doing so. I actually wouldn't expect Sony to care too much about a MS/Sega acquisition, if they (Sony) get Square-Enix and maybe some other Japanese publisher (Kadokawa, Capcom being two likely picks).
Yes the Persona and Yakuza games are more prolific but they aren't games Sony can't realistically substitute for in aforementioned acquisitions or big share buys & investments into Square-Enix, Kadokawa, Capcom etc. I'd expect Nintendo to be the more confrontational towards Microsoft in a Sega acquisition, if anything.
Even if MS does NOT get ABK, I’m afraid that won’t deter them, and they might go after other pubs like Square-ENIX, Capcom, Konami, Take Two, EA, etc. in ABK’s place. I think they’ll try this regardless anyway.
Those other pubs have to WANT to be acquired in the first place though, and for both money & cultural reasons Square-Enix, Capcom and Konami would be off the table. Take-Two is too large; ABK alone helps Xbox division get within spitting distance of PlayStation's revenue totals, Take-Two would push them well past that. EA might be a similar case, and likely consideration for sports monopoly or something.
Not to mention, MS have so much they need to fix up with the XGS studios, stemming growing dissatisfaction within the Zenimax teams post-acquisition, and then throwing ABK's workplace cultural BS and pipeline issues on top of that? Think of Xbox ATM as a dam nearing full capacity; a Take-Two or honestly any publisher on top of EA will cause that dam to break, and break hard.