In the midst of various regulatory bodies from around the world investigating Microsoft’s attempted acquisition of Activision Blizzard, a Microsoft executive has stated that the acquisition doesn’t warrant concern because of PlayStation’s dominant position in the console market.
According to Bloomberg, Microsoft president and vice chairman Brad Smith made the statement during an annual shareholders meeting.
“The FTC’s case is really based on a market that they’ve identified that they say has two companies and two products, Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox,” said Smith. “If you look at the global market, Sony has 70% of that market, and we have 30%. So the first thing a judge is going to have to decide is whether the FTC lawsuit is a case that will promote competition or is it really instead of case that will protect the largest competitor from competition.”
Smith also brings up the number of exclusive games PlayStation has released in comparison to Xbox. Citing 286 PlayStation-exclusive games as opposed to 59 Xbox-exclusive releases, Smith states that he doesn’t believe 59 becoming 60 is a danger to competition.
“So the administrative law judge is going to have to decide whether going from 59 to 60 is such a danger to competition that he should stop this from moving forward,” said Smith.
The US Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it is suing Microsoft to block its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
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