These days, Microsoft is required to try and prove to the regulatory bodies in the US and Europe that the giant deal planned to purchase the gaming company Activision Blizzard will not turn it into a monopoly. It seems that Microsoft’s lawyers believe that the way to complete the deal is through statements that belittle its value as a leading company in the field of gaming, including statements that no one would have thought would appear on the company’s official paper.
This is the latest statement that the company made to the authorities, according to which the union between Microsoft and Activision will not endanger Sony since the Japanese company is simply too big and successful for such a deal to threaten it – and it is precisely Microsoft that is having difficulty competing in the market. Microsoft claims that during the year 2021, no less than 280 exclusive games will be released for the PlayStation consoles, both in Sony’s own development and in the development of third-party companies. “This is five times more than Xbox exclusive games,” according to Microsoft itself.
Moreover, Microsoft believes – surprisingly – that “many of these games are of better quality than the Xbox games”. Microsoft lists several brands, including God of War, The Last of Us and the Spider-Man series, as “iconic” games.
The bottom line is, of course, that there is no real danger that Microsoft will be able to eliminate Sony’s business: “It is unlikely that Sony, a company that leads the console market by a ratio of more than two to one, will close as a result of the lack of access to a single brand.” The reference is of course to the Call of Duty series, which is at the center of the discussion due to the possibility that after the purchase Microsoft will turn it into an exclusive series for the Xbox consoles.
Later in the statement, Microsoft cites Nintendo as an example as a successful company in the field of gaming, even though no game in the Call of Duty series has reached a console produced by it in recent years.