Not 'free' per-se, they still have to integrate ABK. Also, an acquisition by Sony wouldn't happen overnight, it would take several months before even being announced, and likely would happen without warning. You guys are setting yourselves up for disappointment expecting them to react quickly based on twitter rumors. I wouldn't expect any major acquisition news from Sony before next year, and MS may go on a cool-down period before they go on the prowl again too.
Microsoft HAVE to go into a cool-down period. ABK is massive and it will be 10x more challenging to integrate them into the whole of Xbox than it's proving for Zenimax, which isn't going great ATM all things considered. How stupid would Microsoft look failing to integrate a $69 billion acquisition?
People like that the idiots on ResetERA or whoever else are praying MS sweep in on Square-Enix or any other gaming publisher or studio for the next several months to year or more, simply show how ignorant they are about the real world and the sheer challenges of successfully completing an M&A as massive as ABK. Microsoft also have all kinds of eyes prying into them due to the regulatory investigations on ABK; any regulator worth a crap would immediately ask them: "Hey, you
JUST bought ABK, why are you rushing to buy yet another publisher? How about you slow down and get what you already have in order first?".
Honestly, what excuses could Microsoft use to buy Square-Enix or any other competitor right now or years from now? Mobile? Well, that's what King is for (ABK). Japan? Isn't Tango Gameworks working on a JRPG? Doesn't Microsoft have a strategic partnership with Sega/Atlus? So that excuse dies too. Compete in studios? They have now more than Sony and Nintendo, probably combined. Europe? Zenimax and ABK already address that. ROTW? That's what initiatives like xCloud are meant to focus on.
Microsoft have run out of excuses for buying more publishers, at least for the next several years. If they try playing the "we need more revenue!" card, regulators will ask them how acquiring Zenimax AND ABK, and folding their revenue into Xbox division's, somehow still isn't enough when forecasts showed it would have been more than enough. It would also make them ask if Microsoft's acquisitions are hurting the revenue potential of the entire market as a whole, which affects willingness of investors to invest money into the industry.
Companies like Square-Enix may be "getting calls", but Microsoft ain't one of them. They have no angle or room to make that play right nor or in the foreseeable future. I just wish others would understand the realities they face in getting ABK (and Zenimax) properly integrated and streamlined into the wider Xbox/Microsoft Gaming pipeline, and that Microsoft can't risk bleeding out so much talent or pipeline efficiency on a $69 billion purchase by rushing to buy YET
ANOTHER publisher when their plate is already full.
Honestly, and especially to dudes like Dabaus because you let Xbox fanboy BS get you riled way too easily...just ignore the Xbox fanatics on ResetERA, Twitter, wherever if they're talking about Microsoft lining up more acquisitions anytime soon. They're still at school playground mentality, however stunted that makes them. When you actually think about the logic and logistics of what's on Microsoft's plate gaming-wise, you'll see how much those "rumors" and hopium are dog shit.