February is perfect, I think, if you buy the rumour they're holding back due to regulators, January would be the time that UK/EU make up their final minds, nothing Microsoft can do to change it then, ignoring that though, February is far enough into the year to prepare for but not too far that it's too close to E3 or past potential releases, most of the major releases happen starting March.

They should do a Q1 X0 every year, focus on the line-up from Q1-Q2 and then E3 can focus on the line-up for Q3-Q4.

How about you will the CMA into passing the ABK deal.

Well yea...you can't really say when you expect a deal to close when you gotta potentially go to court over it lol

So, according to Idas: "In Phase 2, the CMA appears to be less interested in earlier concerns about Microsoft leveraging its wider software and cloud services to stifle competition in gaming."

I'm happy the Azure stuff is no longer a focus and I assume by wider software they mean Windows OS.

Their investigation was.

• The impact of the merger on the future of cloud gaming - Azure, Windows OS.
• The impact of the merger on multi-game subscriptions (such as competitors to Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass) - Pricing, Quality, Choice.
• The impact of the merger on other console gaming platforms - Exclusivity, Quality, Pricing.

So it sounds like they've dumped that one, now two left.

Though Tbh...Them being less interested in their weakest argument makes sense.

At least it doesn't look like CMA is just going to throw every shitty argument at the wall that they can like FTC is doing.

Got it pre-loaded! 

You think MS will maybe make a commitment to release CoD on both GamePass and PS+? (I know it's stupid because why should MS be forced to do that when they own the property but, maybe that can satisfy their concerns to get the whole deal through). Because if Xbox's overall strategy is to get deeper into mobile, CoD shouldn't be the sole factor that kills the deal. Maybe they can say they'll put CoD in with PS+ but delayed for like 6 months or something from the Xbox Game Pass release. 

I'm just tossing out ideas (no matter how unlikely they may be). Because we know MS isn't going to divest any Activision/Blizzard assets, so negotiating terms for Subscription gaming seems the best way to get the deal through CMA.