ahhh shit, might have to grab zero escape now to complete the collection. wtf is research and destroy tho, never heard of it lol

Give it a little while, Embracer will sell some of their studios

These dudes can't even be bothered to publish Tomb Raider or fund it, they're just a holding company, I'm thinking if Microsoft wanted Crystal Dynamics enough then them being owned by Embracer Group won't stop them.

Probably can tell them that they're interested but the developer isn't going to wait around forever.

If MS does end up getting CD and Eidos, think we could consider it an organic purchase since both studios are working on major Xbox exclusives?

Zero Escape is great! Spike Chunsoft needs to bring more games to Xbox. Perfect smaller narrative focused game pass games that are easily digestible. Adds great variety to your portfolio. 

Reminds me of when that one horror writer said his horror short story about the black liquid rising up from the ground and climbing to higher and higher elevations, that corrupted people that touched it, was being developed into a video game by Microsoft, and then it never happened. 

I read the process can take up to years so unless MS really think this thing can land, they probably should just pay that dowery money to ABK and bail.  Ether that or they have a plan B that probably requires them to split ABK up.

EC can take years, CMA can be sped up but it definitely won't finish until sometime in 2024. Pretty sure Microsoft already knows the deal is dead but will fight it anyway due to the precedent and well, it's a $69bn deal. CAT have only ruled against CMA in 33% of cases but it meant shit because CMA has never reversed their decision to block an acquisition so ultimately they have a 100% win rate, Lol.

Only way this is passing is if CAT does send it back to CMA (big if) that Microsoft offers an extreme solution such as ring-fencing or divesting Activision. But CMA said that even a "moderate" increase in Microsoft's power in Cloud would pose an SLC so Blizzard titles apply to that as well, I think at this stage, CMA would demand Microsoft divest everything but King, Lol.

Microsoft will wait for EC's decision, if they approve then I think they'll continue, if they block then they'll abandon the deal days later.

MS should definetly act as if the deal dead and yet still procede with every legal avenue they have at their disposal. They have $3B worth of reasons to fight to the bitter end on this.

Also, its true that going by the norm chance are slim with the CMA, but I do believe MS have a stronger case than most prior, so hard to say what are the real probabilities. The scope on which the decision to block was taken appears to be very narrow, any rebutal of CMA evidence/resoning or individual conculsion by the CAT, can make it really difficult for the CMA to reach the same overall conclusion. My understanding is that the CAT can quash CMA decision partialy, so the best case scenario here is for the CAT to quash the cloud SLC and ordering remittal on this allowing the CMA to only adjudicate again on the cloud market then MS can simply leave the UK cloud gaming market cutting the legs of the CMA have to even consider an SLC again.

Anyway the next pieces of information we'll have to weigh in the probabilities are the actual appeal arguments from MS and experts thought on them. Then EC decision, other market decisions and finaly the FTC case results. 

Are Redfall reviews dropping tomorrow? I haven't heard anything.

Review embargo is set for May 1st at 8:01 pm EST.  Not sure about the :01 significance. lol