Stop us if you’ve heard this before! Microsoft once again cited PlayStation’s market dominance as a reason regulators shouldn’t be concerned about Xbox’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Speaking at the big European Commission hearing this week, Microsoft Chairman Brad Smith shared some numbers on the difference between Xbox and PlayStation in various regions, and even showed off a pie chart!
European Economic Area market share from 2022
Sony PlayStation 80% Microsoft Xbox 20%
Source IDG$MSFT $ATVI pic.twitter.com/onAEwnNSYm
— Roberto Serrano’ | (@geronimo_73_) February 21, 2023
Here’s a bit of what Smith had to say, courtesy of GamesIndustry.biz:
“Think about the European market. It is a market in which Sony holds 80% of the shares. Overall it’s about 70/30. In Japan, it’s 96/4. These numbers have remained remarkably constant for two decades. year when there were issues with Sony’s supply chain, they came back strong.”
Of course, the idea here is to try to convince regulators that acquiring Activision Blizzard wouldn’t have a detrimental effect on the industry. Smith also pointed out yesterday that Xbox has a much bigger presence on PlayStation than PlayStation on Xbox; the quotes below are courtesy of Tom Warren and Twitter:
“Microsoft already has 58 games running on PlayStation, Sony only has 2 on Xbox. We said if this acquisition goes through, we’d be happy to make sure there’s a 59 with Call of Duty and certainly others.”
“Sony has 286 exclusive titles and Microsoft only has 59 on Xbox. What you see is a cross-platform strategy for Microsoft even before this deal. As we look to the future, we believe the future is still more cross-platform.” than it has been in the past.”
Meanwhile, Activision Blizzard CCO Lulu Cheng Meservey himself drew attention with jabs at Sony on Twitter, suggesting the company is “trying to undermine the deal to protect its two-decade dominance in gaming.”
In particular, the following tweet has racked up a lot of views:
pic.twitter.com/kEYLhqQnGi— Lulu Cheng Meservey (@lulumeservey) February 21, 2023
It all starts again then! Even despite yesterday’s meeting, Sony still refused to sign Microsoft’s proposed 10-year deal to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, but Microsoft’s Brad Smith is hopeful a deal can be struck.
“We haven’t reached an agreement with Sony, but I hope we will.”
“I hope today is a day when our industry and our regulations move forward responsibly.”
What do you think of all this? Let us know in the comments section below.
(source gamesindustry.biz, via twitter.com)
Fraser has an unhealthy obsession with all things Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead series and has extensive knowledge of Xbox sports games. He also supports Walsall FC, that West Midlands team you’ve never heard of.