this post was submitted on 28 Jul 2026
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IMO every dev/publisher acquired by MS was already tainted and on its way out. Most of the people responsible for the great games you associate with those companies are long gone. Let them die.
I'll assume you mean the more recent acquisitions, not ones from back in the day like Ensemble Studios. Which admittedly they shut down, but the games that they made live on, published by World's Edge, and are better than ever.
But yeah, with the exception of World's Edge, it's hard to disagree. Blizzard in particular was probably so tainted before that being bought out can only have helped them. At least under Microsoft's ownership there haven't been any sexual abuse scandals. Bethesda it's hard to say. They certainly haven't done anything great since Microsoft bought them. But I'll hold off judgment until like 12 months after the next mainline Elder Scrolls game comes out...or the 12 year anniversary of the announcement/teaser, if it still isn't out by then. Activision...I don't even know what they do, outside of CoD.
Yes, I was meaning the companies from the most recent aggressive acquisition period. Some of the older acquisitions weren't totally wasted as you mentioned, though it is hard to say they were not worse off than if they had been able to succeed on their own. I was really bummed about Obsidian being gobbled up.