Only way if those studios shut down is if Gamepass fails. But guess what, MS just took over the PC market.
Way off mark. For every stakeholder in gaming (from MS's very competition like Sony, Nintendo, Google etc, to gamers) you have to thank god that MS is still the dumb kid on the block taking the long, most arduous route to success. Not only are they still children on the Gaming PC market (compared to Steam + Epic and their respective walled wardens) after this acquisition; but this purchase does also little to move the needle on the console space. Merely a salvo to boost pre-orders and provide something to their diehard fans to talk about.... cause we know they ain't gaming
those acquisitions until late 2021 or 2022 the least (the droughts continue).
MS is following the Netflix model by the book (which shows their lack of ideas) but on the gaming space... bleeding money as they do. At least Netflix has the 150m+ userbase to excuse the bleeding and is global, MS doesn't. A smarter way of going about dominating the PC market would be to simply get it over with, and instead of bleeding billions for over a decade+, simply buy out Valve for 10-25 billion. Instant access to 10s of millions of users hooked to Steam like a drug - ready to be milked by Gamepass or anything else (they'll take it and "like" it).
Instead MS bleeds smaller amounts overtime, continuously, without achieving their end goal. The definition of dumb. Outside of their monopoly on Windows and Office (and the server farms they bought thanks to those monopolies aka Azure), they've failed at practically everything for this very reason - incompetence. They're still launching a console this November with no big AAA exclusive, a year long drought at that. The man at the helm still said he doesn't care if you buy the console, still overpromised and underdelivered for 6 years, and still had to spend 7 billion to boost his pre-orders. Running joke.
With that said, by law of averages alone; content, and quality content at that will arrive from MS in 2022/2023/2024. So they'll have some AAA bangers to dangle like a carrot but most of the content will be tailored to their goal of becoming the Netflix of gaming with Gamepass, aka AA's with AAA shine, GAAS etc... aka fodder for the hardcore barring some gem. Inevitably this will put pressure on Sony's projected sales of 150 million consoles. Which is why Sony should be looking into acquiring studios and spending money wisely. A lot can be done with 2-3B over 3 years.... a lot of independent studios are up for grabs, hungry, fresh with new ideas, that; purchased individually, provide way more bang for the buck. Remedy, Bluepoint, Supermassive ... list is endless. Insomniac is the golden model to follow wherever possible. Instead of that MS bought a publisher with a lot of established IP's but with a slate of poor recent outings that failed to grab the market. In that sense it's a positive that they were bought - cause maybe massive layoffs and studio closures were on the table for Zenimax. It's not positive that, if that were the case, failed direction, ideas, vision and management is getting rewarded with a clean slate. That will eventually snowball into all sorts of bad things... it's merely postponement.
I do agree with the general idea that Sony should not stay still. Those who stay still and can't see the moves for what they're are dumb. MS is consolidating content. Sony should do the same, or be left out. Consolidation will continue - and you better be an active player rather than a loser left in the dust. But you also don't have to be dumb and throw fuck you money at your problems.