I think there's some causation vs correlation here - AFAIK Microsoft didn't lead the hike in game prices, it was probably Nintendo? Either way given the strong inflation it seems likely this would have happened acquisition or not.

The layoffs seem more damning but we would need a crystal ball to know if Activision could have skipped them if independent, or bought by another company.

Still it seems hardly clear cut and more story-crafting after the fact by a beurauceat rather than a proper analysis.