I wouldn't be surprised if we get 0 for this year, current climate will make it very hard to acquire any studios, deals would have probably had to been closed prior to Coronavirus but I like having a few wildcard predictions.

Although given how heavily Klob hinted at them having a Japanese studio and we know they've been actively trying to acquire Japanese studios it's likely they have at least 1 in Japan if it happened late 2019-early 2020.

I think it would be easier after this is all over with given the financial situation we'll be in but right now, with all the travel restrictions and social distancing, I can't see them negotiating and acquiring studios over Skype They've physically travelled out to all the studios they've acquired in the past, they'll be contracts both parties need to sign and I imagine the studios want to meet their buyers in person too.

I mean it's not impossible but it's likely far more awkward.

Hmm, that is a good point and true, studios near the end of the acquisition process would likely want things sped up now, plus things can still fall apart at the late stage but that's even less likely now with the situation we're in...

So any early negotiations will likely be delayed but the ones further along will likely be sped up, you're right though and they probably have a lot more negotiations in the late stages than the ones they have in early stages.

Someone like Asobo they've probably been trying to acquire for years...Not saying they'll acquire them though Just an example, I wonder how early Phil started looking for a Japanese studio.

It’s possible I think. MS has said that their eventual goal is to release one AAA game per quarter, 4 per year, with 3 years of development per game that works out to 12 AAA teams needed. They don’t have 12 AAA 1st party teams currently, not even close, by my count they have 7 or 8 currently. They could supplement that with four 2nd party AAA’s every 3 years, but that doesn’t seem feasible, the number of AAA capable independent studios is dwindling, and with Google and Amazon rumored to be on the prowl looking to acquire studios to develop for their streaming services, and Sony also considering more acquisitions, that number could dwindle even more in the coming years. It is in Microsoft’s best interest to beat it’s competitors to the punch and acquire more devs now, especially AAA capable devs, instead of waiting around hoping to make 2nd party deals with said studios, only for their competitors to acquire them first.

Series X for sure. I never bought a One X, so the jump in graphics from a One S to Series X will be huge for me. Plus I enjoy streaming, so will be nice to show the Xbox games at the best possible quality. 

First Gears was released on PC with extra campaign content. I think it was originally planned for the 360, but was cut due to time constrained.