so … do you launch Battle.net first in order to launch Ubisoft Connect in order to launch Overwatch 2?
Ubisoft Connect. That will stream Steam to your system, which you can then use to launch Battle.net, which will give you access to Game Pass, which...
In response to complaints about overwatch 2 removing free cosmetics, we’ve decided to make them purchasable only with uplay coins, which are themselves only buyable via Microsoft Rewards Points. See you on Bing!
That makes sense. Isn’t like Microsoft have Xbox Cloud Gaming or anything…
It's very likely part of the promises they made to get the merger approved in some regions.
To clarify, the British complaint about the streaming market is almost guaranteed to be the cause of this, but nothing in that article claims exclusive streaming rights. Ubisoft will be guaranteed a right to stream the games (on seemingly any platform but maybe mobile), but the language used any time the article quotes the blog post seems to imply that they'll still be able to also offer them themselves or license them elsewhere. Their point of emphasis is that it prevents Microsoft from exclusivity of streaming rights, not that Microsoft still doesn't have them or can't also license them to others. (It also mentions Microsoft abiding by other existing rights deals).