"would be interesting to compile the performance of all the studios that MS played a part in and see which of them actually started performing better.
from what i've read... none."
Then you should read more; haven't you heard of Bungie? They did well for themselves as independent developers on the Mac but were nothing near as successful with Marathon than with Halo.
I don't know if Ensemble Studio was always a MS studio or was bought by them but if the latter then they did quite well with the Age of Empire series on the PC.
I also have high hopes that Lionhead will do better as Peter Molyneux has great ideas and it will be easier for him to get them done with the financial backing of MS. So hopefully once Fable 2 comes out it will be another studio helped by being purchased by MS.
Beside these I draw a blank but there might be others or potential others (like Lionhead) that others might think of.
"I do not suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it"
