Now the question is, are they growing as quickly as they need to? Because if they are indeed leaking more than $15-$20 billion every year, that's not sustainable. They have made a big bet on revenue projections, and honestly, I think they may have overestimated the impact of Gamepass and Bethesda's acquisition. Otherwise, if they were truly happy with the progress, they would be shouting Gamepass subscriber count from the rooftop. They haven't revealed updated numbers since January 2021.
If growth has indeed plateaued, I do not see how Phil could convince MS to give another cheque for $10 billion. One question would obviously be what's the ROI on previous investments? Or, at the very least, how's the MoM growth percentage?
I work in a multi-billion dollar company as a senior manager. If I have to get even a modest $100,000 extra marketing budget approved, these questions come up and need to be answered. It's common. Businesses are there to earn money, and it all depends on ROI -- not wishes on internet forums.
They could buy a publisher, but that's not really their style. Unless they want to hurt Xbox fans by taking away IPs, just like MS did with Bethesda. Though I do not like that.
And to your point, in addition to purchasing those 3 studios, they have also spent money on purchasing Evo, doubling their stakes in Epic, got a 1.93% capital in Kadokawa, and partially funded Discord's Series H funding for a PlayStation partnership.