The Blizzard of today is not a studio that is small, nerdy, and passionate, so what's to lose?
If Microsoft never makes another XBox generation, how good do you think the PS6 will be? Would they even bother making a PS7?
Not to mention Microsoft makes Windows, and has significant control of PC gaming.
And it's not like Call of Duty is some beloved indie franchise anyway. I'd much prefer that than Microsoft gobbling up a bunch of small indie developers. Even the Blizzard games (Diablo, for example) are way less innovative than their indie counterparts.
And whatever their financials, Microsoft has continued sinking a lot of money into their gaming products, thankfully. They could've surrendered but then we'd lose the one major competitor to Playstation, and maybe even Windows gaming. Until and unless Valve/Steam becomes a vertically integrated platform, Microsoft has a purpose.
Microsoft has destroyed pretty much every franchise it touches, with Azure being able to subsidize huge losses for the garbage they've been producing.
Halo infinite might literally be the biggest flop in entertainment history. 500 million dollars spent and within a FEW MONTHS you had the player count for a FREE multiplayer game in the 5 digits.
These studios and game managers know their jobs are very secure, especially if they fall into Microsoft's ESG requirements, so game quality has taken a complete nosedive.
Gone are the small, nerdy, and passionate studios building these games that existed even during the Xbox 360 era from Microsoft.