You realise though, that Microsoft have effectively spent nothing on this acquisition? It is merely a movement between assets on their balance sheet, and they could effectiovely sell off all (or part) of the Bethesda group at a similar cost to how much they purchased it........Microsoft don't need to make any money back (as it has cost them nothing in accounting terms), they merely need to ensure they stay succesful to maintain market value.I'm not typically (disliked all the uncharted games) but there's always exceptions. Even the original Last of Us was good but not fantastic in my eyes with too many Naughty Dog fans praising them regardless of the flaws, got tired of the same reused ladder puzzles etc. but was decent overall. The second game is better though and I play games like Demons Souls, Ni-Oh 2 and Sekiro mostly I'm decent at my tougher, loot based action RPG games.
I agree though, I play consoles more lately due to the ease of access to a bigger and better TV, I've always enjoyed controllers so play everything on it anyway with shooters and action games. Not many shooters lately though as I edge towards sci-fi so cyberpunk will be the first since Deus Ex (played all the Halo games too). Nothing wrong with you getting the Xbox if it fits your style and needs but I'm just pointing out that it's possible to miss the Xbox under this scenario so the M&S deal one seems a bit of a weird one for me. if Sony bought Bethesda they'd have people having to buy consoles, PSN subscriptions, DLC and other bits through them (tons of cross-sale potential). For Microsoft this certainly can happen like with yourself but there's also times like with me that I'd not be buying any of that and sure I'll buy the game but it just makes me surprised they can miss out on all that potential cross sale potential. If I had to buy a Xbox to play Elder Scrolls and they didn't release Halo elsewhere and they found just one or two other games then I'd be very very tempted to get an Xbox and they'd make bank. So not trying to insult the Xbox but just surprised on Microsoft giving such a low bar to entry and little profit from this sort of move. Can they make up the difference selling the games elsewhere? Maybe, but they surely are making their money back slower than Sony would have with all that cross sale requirement to get the games if they had bought it which is what makes me question this strategy.
Sorry, just a bugbear - people see the headline and assume it's a cost to Microsoft (largely as that's what the headline writer wants you to think), whereas the reality is very different. It's like buying a house - you might pay £500k to purchase, but you haven't lost that money as you could resell the house at any time and recoup your initial investment (less/plus any movement in market value during ownership).