Breakingviews - Microsoft’s gaming M&A takes it to the next level

Microsoft’s gaming master plan is slowly coming together. It’s three years since the $2.4 trillion group paid $7.5 billion for ZeniMax, owner of video-game studio Bethesda, and over a year and a half since it splashed out $69 billion for chunkier peer Activision Blizzard . Despite major regulatory bumps along the way, the latter deal now looks likely to go through. Hence the question is how these M&A gambits affect the wider sector, and Microsoft’s position in it.