The Last of Us inspired nary shortage of takes erstwhile it archetypal released backmost successful 2013. The HBO TV adaptation has been nary different. Like a monolithic EpiPen of stimulus for the instrumentality system successful mediate of winter, it has elicited some over-the-top praise, scornful dismissals, and everything in-between. But what is perchance the worst instrumentality of each wasn’t calved until today.

“Hi FTC — did you drawback past night’s occurrence of The Last of Us?” tweeted Activision Blizzard’s Executive Vice President of Corporates Affairs and Chief Communications Officer, Lulu Cheng Meservey. “It was incredible.” What followed from the Call of Duty publisher’s recently hired serial poster was a cringey thread astir how The Last of Us TV amusement proves Microsoft should beryllium allowed to get the institution for $69 billion.

For those who mightiness beryllium surviving nether a stone and don’t know: The Last of Us is simply a harrowing communicative astir love, loss, and redemption successful a satellite brought to its knees by pandemic. This week’s especially intimate and affectional episode moved galore to tears. It moved Meservey to station astir however the largest acquisition successful the past of tech raises nary reddish flags.

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard person been connected the violative ever since the Federal Trade Commission launched an anti-trust suit against them, seemingly with the intent to wriggle escaped a fewer much concessions earlier yet letting the woody spell through. It is simply a multi-faceted, omni-directional run that has Microsoft repeatedly talking astir how overmuch it sucks compared to Sony, some successful presumption of making games and present successful presumption of making TV shows. That was surely the sentiment Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer conveyed past week when asked to compare The Last of Us TV amusement to the Halo TV show.

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“Sony’s endowment and IP crossed gaming, TV, movies, and euphony are formidable and genuinely impressive,” Meservey tweeted today. “It’s nary wonderment they besides proceed to predominate arsenic the marketplace person for consoles. In gaming, Sony is ‘the archetypal of us’ - and they volition beryllium conscionable good without the FTC’s protection.”

Let the Cordyceps instrumentality maine now.