To read the two documents sent to the English antitrust by sony And Microsoft to plead their opposing positions in the affair Activision Blizzardi.e. the attempted acquisition of the HERO software house by the Redmond company for about 69 billion dollars, currently under scrutiny by the international and US market protection authorities, it is impossible not to notice the comic side of both, beyond of some very serious considerations made by both companies.
Let’s start with Sony, the prosecution, which essentially bases its arguments on enormous dangers for the market if the deal goes through, such as the removal of call of Duty from the PlayStation platforms or, more simply, the loss of some privileges acquired with the latest contracts signed with Activision Blizzard; yet another transformation of multiplatform studios into exclusive Xbox studios; which would impoverish the market; the risk that the Game Pass will become increasingly popular, crushing the competition from PlayStation Plus (higher ranges); even the possibility that Microsoft will increase the prices of Xbox hardware and software and so on.
All terrible, one might say, stuff to make the barricades if it weren’t for the fact that this is exactly what Sony has done over the last few years, paying for exclusives on its platform, through the acquisition of studios or commercial agreements, increasing the price of software and hardware, ignoring the Game Pass for years until realizing that at least thirty million people seem to like it, and then a belated run-up with the PlayStation Plus, having advantages for Call of Duty and marketing it as first party so that its platforms stand out.
Of course: he did very well. Jim Ryan, the CEO of Sony, is something of a lesser Jack Tramiel in terms of running the company, but from a commercial acumen point of view little can be said about him and many of his moves, however anti-consumer, have been very effective. After all, if God of War Ragnarok has already sold 5.1 million copies, despite the cost of €80 on PS5, he was obviously right and the PlayStation players proved impervious to increases. The same goes for the €50 price increase of PS5, which still remains the best-selling console. It’s just fun to see accusations piled up against the rival company, which could easily be leveled at Sony itself as well.
Now we come to Microsoft. Reading the 111 pages of the document sent to the CMA had a strange effect on us (in addition to the soporific one). Basically one of the largest multinationals on the planet, whose gaming sector still makes tens of billions of dollars a year, does nothing but mock itself for seeming a kind of Saint Francis of the video game industry.
After the long reading, made by light as if we were in a book by De Amicis, Phil Spencer he appeared to us in a dream dressed in a habit on his way to meet Innocent III, as told by Roger of Wendover, a Benedictine monk of Sant’Albano.
According to the chronicle, written around 1200, the Pope would have said to Philip: “Go, brother, and look for the pigs, to whom you should compare yourself more than to men. Wrap yourself up with them in the mire and, handing over to them the acquisition which you have prepared, take upon yourself the office of your preaching.” Philip didn’t have to say it twice and carried out the command to the letter, returning to the Pope covered in faeces and mud, to tell him: “Lord, I have done as you commanded me; now, please, grant my request”. And so it was that the takeover was accepted, at least in a dream.
No, really, a company that says that in the end the rival company’s games are better than its own, that Call of Duty players represent nothing special for the market, that Game Pass counts for little because what matters is only the mobile sector, which Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, has been eating for years only unleavened bread and the salad that grows in the parks of Redmond in order to have Call of Duty on the Game Pass, smiles a little bit, also because Microsoft has one of the highest stock market capitalizations of the whole world market (currently it is behind only Apple).
In short, if it weren’t the biggest acquisition ever, it would almost be like making a comedy film with Boldi as Ryan and De Sica as Spencer. Sure, someone keeps fighting to defend this or that faction, but let us have fun, as the poet wrote.
PS: a final thought for Nintendo, which in all this is treated as a company of poor people, even being used as a negative example. They will console themselves by selling another 20 million Nintendo Switches.
Let’s talk about it is a daily opinion column that offers a starting point for discussion around the news of the day, a small editorial written by a member of the editorial staff but which is not necessarily representative of the editorial line of Multiplayer.it.
#Microsoft #Sony #comic #side #war