Can't tell if that or the Lexecon team full on phoning in their testimony was worse for Microsoft. Just amazes me that Microsoft went with Lexecon right after they got shredded by another judge in their last antitrust case.
I can't help feeling like Microsoft is still coasting and didn't bother prepping their folks for depositions and testimony. Like they still thought the FTC was gonna go easy on them when it was so apparent that those days are gone for now.
Who cares?
Sony acquired Insomniac Games in 2019 and Bungie in 2022, and in neither case was there a inquisition by regulators demanding to know whether they intended to keep IPs from those studios exclusive. The Xbox doesn't even maintain full exclusives, anymore. Only Sony does that.
If PC counts as not being exclusive not many Sony games are full exclusive. They are a timed exclusive.Who cares?
Microsoft CEO: Sony Has Defined Market Competition Using Exclusives
Sony acquired Insomniac Games in 2019 and Bungie in 2022, and in neither case was there a inquisition by regulators demanding to know whether they intended to keep IPs from those studios exclusive. The Xbox doesn't even maintain full exclusives, anymore. Only Sony does that.
PlayStation Boss Jim Ryan Admits Starfield Xbox Exclusivity Is Not 'Anti-Competitive' - IGN
I'm aware, but eleven of their biggest and most successful releases (including upcoming IPs) are full exclusives. Furthermore, nobody has questioned that Microsoft intends under any scenario to release Call of Duty to PC, so arguing that Sony mostly traffics in console exclusives these days is an impotent defense on Sony's behalf against the merger.
The FTC, who's entire argument is based on subscription services and cloud gaming being distinct markets. The Sony stuff is just noise at this point, they aren't the prosecution here, so to speak. The exclusion of PC and Nintendo also aligns with how Microsoft defines distinct markets internally.
Is there a reason you have such a hate boner for Sony and want Microsoft to see this transaction true? Like, as a gamer, are you hoping it makes things better or something?
And I've highlighted Sony execs themselves undermining their own absurd argument against the acquisition based on the cloud.
Again, it's not their argument. They aren't the ones asking for an injunction, that's the FTC. Whatever difference there is in between public statements and private statements on Sony's part aren't relevant to the trial at this point.
What acquisitions would you have liked the FTC to block since 2020?
This part makes sense short term, not longterm. Game Pass bleeds money, the only path forward to profitability is for Microsoft to drastically hike prices, and that can only be done if they use predatory pricing to drive out competition early. Hence the FTC's huge interest in this matter. What's the maximum price you'd pay for Game Pass? $25 a month? $30? Like..why do you think Activision isn't putting its games on Game Pass? It's because it's inherently unprofitable.
Microsoft is clearly trying to dominate a market through vertical integration and using market power in anti-competiive manners. I have no love for Sony, the 360 is actually my all time favorite console. But as a gamer, there's no longterm benefit to this deal for me. Less competition is bad for consumers. Period.
"Less competition"? Isn't the result to make the Xbox more competitive? Nintendo is the dominant console-maker. Among platforms capable of the latest multiplatform titles, Sony is the dominant console-maker, and has been for a decade, now. This doesn't just extend to hardware sales, but software sales, as well.
If we increase competition between two industry giants by reducing the number of firms in the industry, that market is now less competitive. This is basic economics. You're literally applying antitrust law backwards here by trying to twist it to only apply to the second largest console company in the industry.
It's a separate market. Or to be exact, the FTC is arguing it is, the CMA is arguing that it is, and Microsoft's internal documents confirm it agrees. The "high-performance console" market does not include PC or Nintendo.
It's the textbook definition of vertical integration and anticompetitive behavior. Microsoft wants to vertically integrate by acquiring a major publisher, then use foreclosure or the threat of foreclosure to get a leg up on the competition in cloud gaming and game subscriptions. Microsoft's internal documents, depositions, and testimony confirmed this. Those are the two markets the FTC is most concerned with her. To that end, it's willing to loss lead through foreclosure in order to gain market dominance in those spaces and eventually race prices once you have monopoly and monopsony power.
You never answered this by the way. Why hasn't Activision put games on Game Pass?
Who cares?
Microsoft CEO: Sony Has Defined Market Competition Using Exclusives
Sony acquired Insomniac Games in 2019 and Bungie in 2022, and in neither case was there a inquisition by regulators demanding to know whether they intended to keep IPs from those studios exclusive. The Xbox doesn't even maintain full exclusives, anymore. Only Sony does that.
PlayStation Boss Jim Ryan Admits Starfield Xbox Exclusivity Is Not 'Anti-Competitive' - IGN
I'm tired of hearing the latest buzzword "vertical integration" to describe a simple acquisition. Sony acquired Bungie. They all make acquisitions. So let's focus on the bullshit you're slinging.
....Latest buzz word? The term has been around for decades, if not centuries.
It's a couple billion. How much of global game revenue it is is irrelevant. It's a distinct market according to Microsoft, and the FTC and CMA agree. I'll point out here that Microsoft is the one who fucked itself here by hyping up cloud gaming so much.
Double digit billions if I recall, but I personally would take it with a grain of salt since no one knows how to profit from it currently.
You're wrongly comparing apples and oranges. The market in question is "multi-game subscriptions." This excludes Nvidia GeForceNow and the base tier of PS Plus. So PS Plus Extra (6.1 million) and PS Premium (8 million) is behind Xbox Game Pass.
Is there a reason you think Microsoft can't organically create amazing exclusive titles and needs to purchase Activision to do so?
