At the beginning of this year the agreement was announced microsoft to acquire Activision Blizzard King, in a transaction that is expected to be completed by mid-2023. However, for the transaction to go ahead it has to be approved by about 20 regulatory bodies around the world, including the Brazilian government.
In early August it was reported that the government of Brazil sent questionnaires to companies in the video game industry, asking if Microsoft’s merger with Activision Blizzard King would create an anti-competitive environment for the other companies. Almost all the companies that responded were neutral, but Sony was distinguished by its frankly negative answers, since it had assured that subscription services diminish the quality of video games.
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Originally Sony had said that it takes many years and investment to create a rival to Xbox Game Pass, as Microsoft’s dominance in the market is tremendous. Furthermore, Sony revealed that Xbox Game Pass has captured 60-70% of global subscriptions, which speaks to its huge growth over the last 5 years.
Microsoft’s response to the other companies’ claims was made public this week, saying that Sony is the only one opposed to the deal for obvious reasons. According to Microsoft, Sony is afraid of losing its dominance in the market due to the success that Xbox is adopting by betting on Xbox Game Pass as a platform and not in the console war, which has led it to try to sabotage Microsoft’s service.
In its response to the Brazilian government, Microsoft says that Xbox Game Pass’s ability to grow has been hampered by Sony’s desire to stop such growth, as Sony pays to have “blocking rights”which prevent certain titles from reaching Xbox Game Pass and other services.