Microsoft’s sheer determination to acquire Activision has led to the company roasting itself, seemingly in the hopes of proving a point. Again.
A $68.7 billion acquisition does things to people. And by people, I mean Microsoft. Ever since the company announced its intention to buy out Activision (and therefore acquire the Call of Duty, Spyro the Dragon and Overwatch IPs, amongst many others), it’s been defending itself from regulators, who have been trying to determine whether or not the deal going through would give Microsoft an unfair market advantage. Its tactic has seemingly been to be completely self deprecating.
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Last year, Microsoft has told the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that “Sony has more exclusive games than Microsoft, many of which are better quality”, which is a baffling thing to admit. Now, as GamesIndustry.biz reports, Microsoft president Brad Smith has revealed during a hearing at the European Commission that Sony is currently dominating the video game market.
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"Think about the market in Europe. It is a market where Sony has an 80% share. Globally, it is about 70/30. In Japan, it is 96/4,” Smith said. “These numbers have been remarkably steady for two decades. Even last year, when there were issues with Sony's supply chain, they came back strong."
Towards the end of last year, Sony outsold Microsoft by 69/31 (nice). For some reason, it doesn’t seem that figures for Nintendo have been included in any of these comparisons, but it’s clear that Sony is currently doing far better than Microsoft worldwide, which is obviously the point that Microsoft wants to hammer home.
It remains to be seen if the deal will actually go through - it’s still under scrutiny. Originally, it was stated that it could be finalised by the end of fiscal year 2023 (before July this year), but due to the setbacks it’s faced, it’s seeming more and more unlikely that this will be achievable.
Topics: Microsoft, Xbox, PlayStation, Sony