Xbox Calls PlayStation Too Big to Fail Following UK Agency’s Criticism of Activision Blizzard Deal
Xbox has developed a new tactic to defend its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The acquisition continues to pass various regulatory bodies around the world. It is self-deprecation.
In response to allegations due to concerns raised by the UK competition and market authorities [CMA]Microsoft released a lengthy statement GamesIndustry.biz Calling criticism is “unsupported”, pointing to PlayStation’s leading position in the market as the reason.
In a statement, Microsoft said: “We do not believe the suggestion that a current market leader with clear and enduring market power could be seized by a third-tier provider as a result of losing access to one title. ‘ said.
Microsoft doesn’t share numbers, but the company says that if all Call of Duty players on PlayStation consoles switched to Xbox, “the remaining PlayStation gamer base would be significantly larger than Xbox.”
“In short, Sony is not vulnerable to a fictitious foreclosure strategy, and the referral decision grossly exaggerates the importance of Call of Duty and fails to illustrate Sony’s competitive and clear response capabilities. We are erroneously relying on self-serving statements by Sony,” Microsoft said in a statement. “Sony may not welcome increased competition, but it has the ability to adapt and compete. Gamers will ultimately benefit from this increased competition and choice.”
As far as the CMA’s concerns about the streaming market are concerned, Microsoft says it has “no advantage” and Xbox Cloud Gaming’s relatively limited platform support means that Xbox has “a lot of serious problems” compared to other competitors. He said that he feels that there is a “shortcoming”. The company also says video game streaming adoption is relatively low, and undermining the market will only do long-term harm to its products.
Microsoft is not happy with the UK CMA regulator’s comments about its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. It explains that the regulator’s concerns are “misplaced” and “employing Sony’s complaints without considering potential harm to consumers” 👀 🧵 1/3 pic.twitter.com/nIWuVqyvSW
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) October 12, 2022
“Xbox, as the lowest-ranked console, seventh-ranked PC, and nowhere else platform globally for mobile game distribution, has no incentive to do this. We will do our best to facilitate the profound changes in consumer behavior that cloud gaming needs to succeed.
As noted by Tom Warren of The Verge, Xbox also claimed that Sony “chosen to block Game Pass from PlayStation” while protecting its own first-party games.
Through its response, Xbox has positioned itself as a weaker competitor while highlighting Sony’s strength in the market. This is all part of a major attempt to influence global opinion on acquisitions that add World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, and other major franchises to a stable that includes Halo, Fallout, Skyrim, and more. department. Like opening a website advertising the benefits of an acquisition.
While praising CMA, Sony denounced the acquisition as having a “major negative impact on gamers.”
“Xbox could undermine the competitiveness of rivals.”
Xbox is the first report of the CMA, The full text was published todayThe CMA says it fears Microsoft will harm the PlayStation brand by absorbing a third-party company as vast as Activision Blizzard. In addition to potentially dedicating Activision Blizzard games like Call of Duty to the Xbox and Windows platforms, the CMA is also working to dedicate these games to Microsoft services such as Xbox Cloud Gaming, allowing video games such as Amazon and Nvidia It could have a similar impact on streaming platform competitors, he said.
“The CMA believes that taking full control of this powerful catalog, especially in light of Microsoft’s already strong position in gaming consoles, operating systems, and cloud infrastructure, is an innovation from Microsoft’s closest gaming rival Sony. We will compete alongside other existing rivals and potential new entrants who could provide healthy competition through multi-game subscriptions and cloud gaming services,” the agency wrote in its report.
As of this writing, Activision Blizzard’s games have not been created exclusively for the Xbox platform and services, Microsoft states: Plans to bring Call of Duty to PlayStationBut the CMA said that could change as Microsoft continues to invest and grow in these businesses.
“CMA recognizes that ABK’s latest games are not currently available on the subscription service on release date, but believes this may change as the subscription service continues to grow.” Later, Microsoft can take control of this critical input and use it to undermine the competitiveness of its rivals,” the CMA wrote.
The CMA’s investigation will continue through January, when the results of the second phase of the investigation will be released. The final report will be completed by March 1 next year.
Kenneth Shepard is a writer covering games, entertainment and queerness across the internet. Find him on Twitter (@shepardcdr) and listen to his bi-weekly video game retrospective his podcast Normandy FM currently covering Cyberpunk 2077.
