FTC, EU and UK regulators open investigations Microsoft acquires Activision BlizzardBrad Smith, vice president and president of Microsoft, wrote in the Wall Street Journal that the FTC’s move would hurt competition, consumers and thousands of game developers. CoD)” will be launched on the PlayStation platform on the same day as Xbox.
Brad Smith pointed out that the biggest voice of opposition came from Sony, saying they were as nervous about this acquisition as Blockbuster was about the rise of Netflix, implying that Xbox would overtake PlayStation.
Regarding Sony’s proposal that Microsoft may stop launching “CoD” on the PS platform, Brad Smith believes it’s an economically irrational idea, noting that most of “CoD’s” revenue comes from game sales on the platform PS. Due to the popularity of cross-platform play, stopping the release of the PlayStation would be a disaster for both CoD and the Xbox itself and would only alienate millions of gamers.
Brad Smith, in addition to expressing his proposal to Sony that as long as the acquisition is approved, the new “CoD” work will be launched on the PS platform on the same day as Xbox for 10 years, he also expressed that Microsoft is willing to take the same commitment for other platforms, and can be regulated by the application of the US, UK and EU Agency. He also cited the LinkedIn acquisition in 2016 as an example, when Microsoft made a similar commitment to the European Commission to ensure competitors still have access to their key technologies.
