Hm, looks like you may end up being right about a potential November finalization for the ABK deal. I figured it'd take until early 2023 but the sooner it closes the better. 

It's sorta funny how little Amazon/Google/Apple cares about this, Apple sounds like they don't even want to answer anything, Google and Amazon don't give a shit, I would have thought as Microsoft's main rivals they may have put a negative slant on things but they really don't give a shit, at all. Amazon's response especially is funny, it's basically "heck if we know!" Lol, like, they're in the industry but their answer makes it look like they don't have a clue about the industry they're in, Lol.

It ain't exactly a surprise that Ubisoft and Riot don't take any issue with it. Not surprised at the others either though Tbh. I can see why Sony is saying what they say when CoD brings them in gigantic revenue, they have the data, I can see why other publishers say there are competitors to CoD because some of those publishers literally make competitors to CoD, although none come close to CoD in terms of sales or significance, plus, these publishers don't make money off CoD sales, Lol.

Who knows what happens in the future, CoD could theoretically lose its relevancy, Halo was king from 2001 - 2010 and CoD has been king since 2010 - 2022 (maybe earlier than 2010, I can't remember when CoD blew up) as it stands right now though, CoD dominance still has no end in sight and no FPS comes close aside from Battle Royales, which, CoD also rivals, funnily enough I think CoD Warzone has more chance of hurting CoD mainline than any FPS in the near future.

But Sony is very afraid about losing CoD, straight up saying that nobody could create a rival to CoD and talking about how huge of revenue it is for them, I don't think Sony is trying to block the acquisition but just trying to ensure that CoD remains multiplatform, likely try to make it a concession to the acquisition but I strongly doubt that would happen, interesting responses, from everyone, I wonder why only Brazil is open about this stuff, Lol.

Assisting on Wolfenstein 3

Asked to describe his role - He looks after all the game experiences that they make, Frank O'Connor and Kiki Wolfkill look after the franchise side of things, his role is focused on the gameplay, interactive stuff, he looks after Campaign experiences and F2P multiplayer experiences, his job is to keep the leaders of each experience coordinated, it's basically a creative director job across multiple aspects.

Says they're trying a bunch of new things in the studio to try to get better coordinated. Says he's there to be a caretaker of the franchise for the fanbase. He spends a lot of time looking at user research, social sentiment, etc. When Joe came in he pushed hard for user research, he said 343 hadn't really done it much before he came in, he said they can get the painful feedback privately rather than explosive public feedback and it was a tough time joining the team then because they were really demoralised.

He didn't cut much from the open world but he knows from the original designs (before he joined) there was a significant scaling back. Sounds like he shot down crafting hard, saying that Chief is a super soldier in a suit, he doesn't need to craft stuff, if he wants something, he kills an enemy and takes it, maybe 343 was considering crafting? Lol.

343 not doing much user research before Joe is baffling.

Yeah, it could have been avoided, he basically said that he told them that they can get that explosive negative feedback privately instead of publicly. It sounds like 343 has a lot of talent but a severe lack of focus and possibly too private, someone like Joe was sorely needed to refocus the teams and try to get them back on a good track. He needs to be promoted to a higher role still.

He also said that 343 is a large team, not a gigantic one, they don't have infinite resources, they have to pick and choose what to deliver on and also made note that the ambition of 343 is larger than previous Halo teams due to how much Halo Infinite has going on now from open world campaign, to a live service multiplayer, to forge, etc.

Mentioned again that he doesn't want to burden his teams too much, especially the testing team, he doesn't want to burn his team out, they have to make cuts and delays but fans are rightfully upset about the delays. Said they have to think less about sprints and go into marathon mode, slow their pace and focus, get into a different way of operating and resist thinking about revenue and engagement for now. Makes note of their leaders (Phil and Matt) being supportive of that.

I know things hurt right now for Halo fans But I do have faith in Joe to fix things, like when Phil took over and people were giving him shit for not doing instant changes, things will take a while, once Joe gets the team into a good rhythm and streamlines everything, Halo will be in a brilliant spot, Joe seems to be the man for focusing the teams in a way 343 hasn't had in the past. Forge is looking absolutely fantastic though and I'm almost convinced they should do a 'relaunch' of Halo with Forge.