In San Francisco today after 5 p.m. our time federal court beganwhich is expected to rule next week on whether Microsoft will buy Activision Blizzard for a record $68.7 billion.
In the meantime, we will learn more interesting information from the documents submitted by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). She is trying to convince the court that Microsoft’s merger with the publisher of Call of Duty, Diablo, World of Warcraft and other games will have an impact on the market and competition. Interestingly, Jim Ryan will not be in the courtroom. The Sony CEO will only appear in a pre-produced video. However, the FTC is already using Sony’s earlier claims. Microsoft will be defended not only by lawyers, but also by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Xbox head Phil Spencer and a number of other executives, including Activision CEO Bobby Kotick and head of Xbox Game Studios.
Source: MicrosoftMicrosoft is raising prices. New prices for Xbox Series X and Xbox Game Pass
Come back to documents from the FCS. they say that Not only was Redfall supposed to be released on PS5 (which the Arkane developers acknowledged), but also Starfield, which seems logical, given when development began. However, Microsoft banned the PS5 versions of both games after purchasing ZeniMax (Bethesda’s parent company).
US officials are convinced that the giant Redmon has enough incentive to cripple the PlayStation and monopolize the market for high-end, cloud and gaming services. And this even at the cost of a “short-term” loss. FTC probably means less game sales, and with it less profit.
The documents submitted must prove that Microsoft does not act for the benefit of the industry and negatively affects the market with its decisions after the purchase of Bethesda. In the documents, Microsoft denies the pursuit of exclusivity and points out that these are real/separate markets.
Source: Andrew Hoyle/CNETMicrosoft Wants to Destroy PlayStation, Claims Consumer Lawsuit, and Has Evidence
Microsoft does not deny that it needs exclusive content. For this reason, Redfall and Starfield are only available for Xbox and PC. However Redfall was expected to generate minimal sales..
Microsoft promises that many more future games from ZeniMax (including Bethesda) will appear on the PlayStation and Nintendo..
Microsoft in docs coming out like the one who lost the console war. According to him, the console market is dominated by Sony and Nintendo. The Xbox is expected to have a very small market share: in 2021, the Xbox was expected to account for just 16% of total console sales, and in the same year, it was expected to account for 21% of the console gamer pie.
As it was a year later, this year Microsoft no longer represents it. Some point out that this was done on purpose, because since then the Xbox has been gaining momentum and gamers are more interested in it. Interest in the Xbox is expected to grow in the coming years as new exclusives are released.
Source: bethesdaStarfield’s exclusivity is proof enough to block Activision’s acquisition of Blizzard.
Source :Indian TV
