Original report comes from the paywalled The Information, that they tried to sell to private equity for $100B-$150B, but that it was short lived and fell through. This backs what a lot of us have been thinking based on the moves Sharma has been making, that they track with a sell-off of the Xbox brand.



Microsoft shuts down studios like it’s no one’s business. I don’t know of a single big tech company that supports devs.
Game developers are seen as free labour… Then companies wonder why their new consoles/systems flop.
DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS!..
…DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS!
…DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS! DEVELOPERS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vhh_GeBPOhs
It sure seems that the reason they’re shutting down or selling off so many studios is to make Xbox a leaner purchase offering. Because shutting down or otherwise divesting yourself from all of those developers is counter to what a healthy console business ought to do.
So the route that David Zaslav took with Warner Bros. to make it easier to sell to Paramount.
Investors!, Investors!, Investors!, Investors!