I really dont understand where this evening up the playing field comes from. When MS went and bought Bethesda, they both had the same number of studios. Sony's studios were simply more productive. Just because MS was in third place doesnt mean they need to go and get entire publishers to get even in yearly revenues. Their 16 studios and their console business were simply not producing enough revenue because they were simply not good enough. They didnt produce any GOTY caliber games for an entire generation. They cancelled games left and right. Killed off several studios when they shouldve been investing in more. And pretty much sat on their laurels for 5 years of last gen until they decided they need to take gaming seriously and went out and bought NT, Obsidian, PG, Undead Labs and Double Fine.
And guess what? no one had a problem with that. Because thats simply how acquisitions are done. You buy independent studios. Not entire publishers. They couldnt even the playing field right away because this shit takes time. When Sony was in third place they went out and signed Sucker Punch, GG, Evolution Studios in the mid to late 2010s. Sucker Punch didnt make a GOTY caliber game until 2020. GG didnt make one until 2017. Evo is no more. It takes time to level out the playing field.
Aaron Greenberg once made a tweet laughing at the pathetic sales of GOW3, GT5, Heavy Rain, Uncharted 2, KZ2, MAG and Infamous. Halo 3 had outsold them combined. It took Sony 10 years to hit Halo 3 numbers. 10 years after that tweet. They didnt cry that they werent seeing the sales. They didnt cry about competition being too tough. They simply went and made quality games, and built cred with gamers and critics. Thats what MS shouldve done with PG, Undead labs, Ninja Theory and Obsidian in 2018. Take a fraction of the $8 billion and build these guys 1000 man teams to make sure they have next gen games ready for the first year. No fucking around with cross gen Forza Horizon. Go work on Fable right away. No bleeding edge bs. No outer worlds B game. No one wants a game like that from a first party. Just make next gen AAA GOTY caliber shit right away. 3 years shouldve been enough time with a large team that surely MS can afford.