There is a lot of misinformation in this thread, and I think a lot of it is intentional on the part of some members. Microsoft did close down two studios, but they also folded much of the staff from those studios into Microsoft Game Studios. Which basically means their existing development teams got larger. Further more it allowed for more floating development. Resources extended to first or third parties for key functions such as bug testing, play testing, and additional coding.
Microsoft never owned Bioware or Bizarre. In fact given what Electronic Arts paid for Bioware it was probably a safe move for Microsoft. Three quarters of a billion dollars could be used to much better use in the short term. With that kind of money Microsoft could front the costs on twenty extremely high end games. With that kind of money they could probably double all their existing staffs, or create half a dozen new internal studios.
Make no mistake Electronic Arts paid that price for Biowares Austin studio that is developing a new online Star Wars game. Even so if Microsoft feels a real pressing need to have such a game it is probably cheaper to develop from scratch at a margin of the price. Electonic Arts is gambling that they can usurp World of Warcraft, and thus have a huge money generator.
This is probably not a bad acquisition for the purposes of genre diversification. Yes Microsoft is doing well on a few fronts, but they need to sell on all fronts. I am just hopeful it is something with wide appeal. Rather then something that will appeal to just half a million people globally.
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