It's what I expected from Phil and MSFT.... it's the double-speak that he is famous for and the reason nobody on the PS side trusted him from day 1.
I think it's potentially massively damaging to the industry to allow this acquisition to go through. EA has always been and remains a close ally of Xbox, with all their releases already included in gamepass, with Zenimax and then this to top it off, it's a clear overreach to me, how many more is too much?
1 publisher was already unprecedented. It's too late to close the stables after the horse has bolted, so I think regulators really need to dig in and not allow acquisitions to get out of control.
MSFT / Xbox has been incompetent at managing game development and it seems like they are determined to either own gaming or destroy it on their way out.
What must be pointed out to regulators is that Xbox has all the studios they need, in almost every major genre.... but they are particularly well off in terms of Shooters, RPG's and actions games...... Activision does not fill in any genre or area that they lack.
They are only buying due to the market power it affords them, they are buying market position as opposed to earning it, using money they earned in another industry where they hold a monopoly to buy beloved IP's and take them away from customers on other platforms and force them away from where they choose to game, where they have their friends, their back-catalog and trophies.... a history built over decades, to force them to subscribe to a service they never wanted or onto a console they dont want to play on.
In short it limits choice, hurts the industry, potentially pulls friend circles apart and is simply unfair as a business practice.
