Yeah they pounced on that deal when they saw their stock fall hard, Phil likely said it was a now or never opportunity and Amy Hood and Nadella agreed.

Insane amount of money though and it does make me wonder what happens to their other plans? They obviously still had plans for further expansion and where likely eyeing more studios so are they just abandoning that now that they just spent a ton of money on this deal.

In case of No One Lives Forever:

"And they really, really wanted to give No One Lives Forever the treatment. There was just one problem: nobody seems to know who holds the copyright for the game, but everyone independently has told Nightdive that they'll sue if they make the game. Warner Bros., Activision, and 20th Centry Fox all might own the copyright to the game, except that the paperwork for how the rights all shake out was contrived in a time before such records were digitized. So, someone owns the rights to this game. And Nightdive very much wants to work out an arrangement with whoever that someone is. But none of the three potential owners are willing to go hunt down the paperwork so such a deal could be worked out. "

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20201111/10541245687/happy-20th-birthday-to-no-one-lives-forever-classic-pc-game-that-cant-be-sold-today-thanks-to-ip.shtml


True Crime:
https://web.archive.org/web/20180202173416/https://www.ign.com/articles/2014/12/30/activison-abandons-true-crime-trademark

I'm really forcing myself to play Assassin's Creed Valhalla lately. It's far too long for its own good.
I'm 45 hours in and it's still the same every time. Pick an English region on the Alliance Map, do 5-8 missions where a couple of new characters are introduced and where the last missions usually ends in storming a castle. This will grant you the support of the local leader. Rinse and repeat for the other fifteen regions.

Even the story lines between the regions repeat themselves. It's already the third or fourth time there's a traitor amidst that leader's entourage and it's my job to accuse the right one.

I've rarely felt so empty after a session of Valhalla but on the other end I want this to be over so I can delete it and start something else.
4 more regions in England to go, 2 regions elsewhere and then there are still the DLCs......

I am positive that MS has put in some real effort in Japan but Japan just does not care about MS, their Products (Besides Minecraft).  I believe you should keep your expectations very low and hoped to be surprised.  If any big deal is going to happen in Japan, it will be Sony first to make it or Nintendo.  Sometimes having big pockets isn't always enough.

One of the reasons I haven't played any of the new AC games. They don't feel like the same AC games I became a fan of. i miss the 20 hour AC games that focused on parkour gameplay.

Bethesda is old news confirmed. MS has already forgotten they exist.

Shika, I hope you have fun updating the studio sizes.

It takes years to integrate a large company like Zenimax.  At some point there will be a huge restructure probably after MS lands Acti/Blizz.  Once that happens who knows how this chart will change, what new roles will develop and some become obsolete.  I expect it to take about 5 years but I am sure there will be a lot of changes happening during that time frame.

Also after a big sale like this, top management usually is required to stick around for a certain period of time before they can cash in and leave unless it was part of the deal for them to go.  Who knows who will remain after 5 years after the sale.

Phil should be labeled as "He-Man" instead of he/him.

Totally off topic, but I find all the pronoun labels so pointless...like, unless you're asking people to address you in a way that's not patently obvious regardless, why do I need to see what your pronouns are? If you look like a dude, don't worry bro, I think you're gonna be addressed as a dude. If you look like a woman, chances are, people will address you as if you're a woman. I don't think Phil Spencer has to worry about being stopped on the street by someone going "excuse me mam, which way to the nearest Taco Bell?" Closest he'll ever get to having to worry about being mislabeled is some random fanboy calling him a bitch.