The big court battle between Microsoft and the FTC is now underway as the company tries to fight for its $69 billion deal to go through. Over the next few days, Microsoft will argue its case in a bid to get its Activision deal approved. However, the company opened its defence in a rather questionable manner yesterday. Microsoft openly admitted that it has been losing the battle against PlayStation and Nintendo since 2001.
In its opening statement, Microsoft argued that Xbox has lost the console wars and its rivals are positioned to continue to dominate the industry.
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Microsoft has also openly stated that the Xbox was outsold by Sony and Nintendo by a “significant margin”. It followed up by stating the company hasn’t stopped “losing” the “console wars” since.
“Xbox’s console has consistently ranked third (of three) behind PlayStation and Nintendo in sales. In 2021, Xbox had a share of 16% while Nintendo and PlayStation had shares of [redacted] and [redacted], respectively. Likewise for console revenues and share of consoles currently in use by gamers (‘installed base’), Xbox trails with 21% while PlayStation and Nintendo have shares of [redacted] and [redacted], respectively.”
The company says that its purchase of Activision is part of its “betting on a different strategy” by generating profits through game sales and accessories rather than console sales.
The argument was brought forward to the FTC as part of Microsoft’s motivation talks in the Activision deal. The case is currently in trial. Xbox boss Phil Spencer is set to testify sometime today. The FTC is looking to pause the deal between Microsoft and Activision ahead of the 18 July deadline.
Source: The Verge
