Given how Microsoft has managed Bethesda (giving them a large amount of autonomy and shipping the doomed Redfall) it's way too optimistic to expect any positive changes for Activision/Blizzard customers. It wouldn't surprise me is Bobby kept running the whole thing, just under Microsoft's ownership.
Meanwhile I do expect more Xbox exclusives - which will ultimately harm consumers.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda lead directly to Starfield not being released on the Sony PlayStation at all. I read the game’s developers were not happy with that.
I think Microsoft might be treating it as kind of a loss leader. But from an article I read the employees and executives whose bonuses are based on sales are mad about PS5 being cut out of the equation. And I can see what you site about Game Pass playing into that as well.
All I know about that is I tried to migrate my Mojang account to Microsoft - when Microsoft started "unifying logins" - and I still haven't heard back from them. So my experience has been negative. Hopefully they don't try to migrate Battle.net accounts in the future.
FYI you have 2 months to migrate your account before they delete it. You will have to repurchase the game on a new account if you ever want to play it again if you don't migrate it by September 19th.
> MLex also reported last month that Microsoft was exploring options to close the deal despite the UK block, which could have involved closing over the UK decision and potentially carving out Activision in the UK. That’s a messy process, and it looks like both parties are now willing to negotiate to avoid it.
An independent studio is independent. Just because other countries can be better run by 1 country, doesn't justify acquiring other companies. Many corporations once they acquire a smaller company, skin it for parts, and dissolve it. Like HBO-Discovery recently. The consumer almost always pays, either in terms of choice, or price.
I still wonder what all of this is worth given that the merger was blocked in the UK.