Unfortunately Xpals aren’t very smart and they’re riding on planted rumors like these to get through another drought.

You sure logged on to all those alts and made a lot of damage control comments over a rumor Rat.

Just want to point out that this is simply Mr. Pachter’s opinion, not the rumor being shot down.
While I think that its a long shot for Microsoft to actually buy EA, I also think that Pachter’s analysis here, like most of his gaming opinions and analyses, that it ‘makes no sense’ is incredibly simplistic and just not very good. If they were to buy EA, they wouldn’t have to make all the EA properties exclusive. Doing so would be foolish. They would keep much of the properties multiplatform, especially the sports titles. some of the smaller titles and more single player focused properties could be made exclusive.
The larger immediate benefit, though, would be in merging EA Access and Game Pass and having the entire EA library more or less always available in Game Pass. It would instantly increase the value of Game Pass and drive up subscription rates, especially if the sports games are included. That would make participating in Game Pass much more appealing to even more developers because there would be at least a somewhat steady stream of income plus greater visibility to an audience they might not otherwise be in front of.
Obviously, the benefits of such a buy out are much more heavily in Microsoft’s favor, but it wouldn’t necessarily be a lose for EA. They’ve been taking quite a hit in the media of late, and that has been taking it’s toll on it’s stock price. That could easily influence the board of directors that a buyout would be a good option, particularly if the deal included Microsoft stock options. Regardless, since EA is a publicly traded company, Microsoft doesn’t have to buy the whole thing, just enough shares to have a controlling stake.