Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is currently being judged in major countries in Europe and the United States whether it violates the antitrust law. Microsoft President Brad Smith once again confirmed in an article submitted by the Wall Street Journal this Monday that they have guaranteed Sony within 10 years. The Moment is a contract launched on the PlayStation platform on the same date as the Xbox launch.
The reason why Brad Smith will vote for the book is because of recent media reports that the US Federal Trade Commission intends to sue Microsoft for this acquisition.
Brad Smith said that Sony has become the biggest opponent of this acquisition. Sony’s biggest reason is that it is afraid that the “Decisive Moment” series will become an exclusive game for Xbox in the future, but this is not commercially reasonable, because “Decisive Moment” is currently the most A large number of players come from the PlayStation platform. Given that cross-platform connection has become the mainstream now, Activision Blizzard has no reason to give up these millions of players.
That’s why Microsoft proposed this 10-year guaranteed contract to Sony, and guaranteed that Xbox can play “Call of Duty” any day, and PlayStation can also play it. Brad Smith also said that they are also willing to make the same commitment to other platforms, including making legally effective guarantees to regulatory agencies in various countries.
On the other hand, Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, also said earlier that what Microsoft needs more is Blizzard’s KING under Activision, the developer of “Candy Crush Saga” can help Microsoft gain a firm foothold in the field of mobile games. Brad Smith also mentioned that this will help Microsoft compete with Google and Apple.
It can be seen from Brad Smith’s article that Microsoft views this acquisition as a foundation to create a new ecology of the game industry based on Xbox Game Pass, just like the emergence of streaming audio and video such as Netflix, which overthrows the rental of video tapes and CDs in the past. Mainly Blockbuster.
Of course, the above are all Microsoft’s claims. But what is certain is that the success of this acquisition depends on the attitudes of the European and American governments.