https://www.resetera.com/threads/microsoft-was-moments-away-from-buying-square-in-99-you-should-read-this-new-making-of-xbox-book.20533/

Apparently this information was found in a book called "Unlocking the Xbox" written by Dean Takahashi.  You can read more information in the forum post.

Thank god that never happened. Otherwise Square would have been shuttered a long time ago, and we would have been forced to play a FF themed Kinect Sports.

glad they didnt.

There's not really a chance Microsoft could buy EA, is there? They just seem too big.

EA gets justifiably crapped on 24/7 but that would be an enormous get for them, assuming it meant those license monopolies EA has came with it.

glad they didn't, don't think it would be a good thing if really happened that deal

 I doubt it. One company can’t just buy another on a whim. EA saw a small bump in the road from BF2, and they pretty much recovered from that overnight. EA would have to be in a dire predicament to where they chose to either sell themselves or their shares for MS to even have the opportunity. Even if EA was willing to be bought, I seriously doubt MS isn’t going to fork out $40+ billion for something that isn’t a guaranteed high reward. Same story with them possibly buying Valve. Really, EA and Valve should be considered protected properties, given their huge pretense in the PC. MS buying them would pretty much give them a monopoly over the PC market, which is illegal. 

Plus on a side note with EA, they likely have several contracts going with Sony for years to put games like Madden, FIFA, and Battlefield. MS buying EA would still mean they have to honor those contracts, so why bother if it will change very little for Xbox? 

I don't get this buy other publishers/studio stuff. Most of the studios which were bought were killed in the process. EA killed the most. Only a few of them who got acquired put something great to the table like Eidos which was bought by square.

In the end, did it made sense for EA buying all those studios? All it did in the end was killing the franchises which people love.

Dont forget sony. Although Sony are doomed do they might just let them crash and burn before buying them cheap. 

I've read somewhere that the FIFA licence comes with quite a few stipulations that it has to be released on any viable platform or something like that. While "viable platform" is of course not clear cut, you'd have to be pretty far out there to not consider the PS4 as one.

I know SE wasn't exactly the epitome of success during the Wada days, but thank god they didn't get bought by Microsoft.