While the video game industry continues to wait and see if the FTC will file an antitrust lawsuit to stop Microsoft $68.7 billion Acquisition of Activision Blizzard Microsoft is once again talking about why the proposed deal is considered “good for gamers”.
The Wall Street Journal He published an op-ed by Microsoft President and Vice Chairman Brad Smith, in which Smith spoke of Sony’s position as the largest opposition to the acquisition.
“Sony has emerged as the loudest interceptor,” Smith wrote. “He’s as excited about this deal as Blockbuster was about the rise of Netflix.” Closing his article, Smith said, “Think about how better it would be to stream a movie from your couch than drive to a Blockbuster. We want to bring the same kind of innovation to the video game industry.”
Despite comparing Sony to an outdated video store, Smith continued Microsoft’s ongoing strategy of self-deprecation by saying that the Xbox “remains in third place in console gaming, stuck behind Sony’s dominant PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.”
The Microsoft boss also claimed that the Xbox does not have enough games to entice gamers to sign up for Xbox Game Pass, once again reiterating Microsoft’s plans to keep the Call of Duty franchise cross-platform.
“To get subscribers to this service, Microsoft needs a full library of popular games, and as things stand, we simply don’t have enough,” Smith wrote.
In November, Politico reported that It was likely that the FTC would file an antitrust lawsuit To prevent massive takeover. At the time, an Activision Blizzard spokesperson told IGN that “any suggestion that the deal could result in anticompetitive effects is completely absurd.”
The report indicated that the lawsuit is not guaranteed, and that the four commissioners of the Federal Trade Commission have not yet met with attorneys for Microsoft and Activision. However, the FTC commissioners are said to be skeptical of the companies’ arguments, and the commission has done so She recently sued to block two huge mergerswhich indicates there’s a good chance the same thing will happen here.
If the FTC files an antitrust lawsuit, a recent report from bloomberg Indicates that “Microsoft is preparing to challenge this decision in court.”
Smith’s opinion piece is the latest in a series of statements from Microsoft trying to advance the merger. Several times during the acquisition review process, Microsoft has a promise that Call of Duty from Activision will remain on PlayStation after the acquisition. Microsoft also named it PlayStation too big to fail While he said the Xbox had “a number of significant drawbacks” compared to its competitor’s platforms.
Sony is playing the game of self-deprecation, too, saying Battlefield can’t keep up with Call of Duty, and claiming that Game Pass is vastly ahead of PlayStation Plus.
The FTC investigation is the latest hurdle to Microsoft’s proposed acquisition, as the deal has also been under scrutiny by the European Commission, several US senators, New York City and the US Department of Justice.
Logan Plant is a freelance writer for IGN covering video game and entertainment news. He has over six years of experience in the gaming industry with minor lines at IGN, Nintendo Wire, Switch Player Magazine, and Lifewire. You can find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
More Stories
Helldivers 2 Patch 1,000.301 improves performance after this week's big balance update
The Microsoft OpenAI partnership was born out of Google envy
Starfield is finally getting a 60fps mode on Xbox