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US agency seeking injunction to block Activision Blizzard deal.
Microsoft says it has “lost the console wars” in a court filing ahead of its legal battle with US antitrust agency the Federal Trade Commission.
The Xbox maker is currently in court to defend its $69bn USD Activision Blizzard acquisition, which the FTC is fighting to block through an injunction ahead of its own internal deliberations.
As part of a (heavily redacted) court filing intended to supplement the five-day case, Microsoft has once again attempted to portray itself the underdog in the console market.
“Xbox’s console has consistently ranked third (of three) behind PlayStation in sales,” Microsoft wrote in its filing (thanks The Verge). It added Xbox only has a 16 percent market share, and “trails” with 21 percent of console revenues and shares of consoles currently in use by gamers.
“Xbox has lost the console wars,” Microsoft continued, “and its rivals are positioned to continue to dominate, including by leveraging exclusive content. Xbox has consistently ranked third in consoles behind PlayStation and Nintendo”.
The strategy to paint itself as an underdog is one Microsoft has deployed previously, with varying degrees of success, in its battle with other regulators around the world – most notably in its discussions with the EU, which approved the Activision Blizzard deal in May, and with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which did not.
Microsoft is currently set to appeal the CMA’s surprise decision with the UK’s Competition Appeal Tribunal in a hearing expected to take place in July. The FTC isn’t due to hold its own internal hearing on the acquisition until 2nd August – the injunction is intended to block Microsoft from finalising the deal ahead of that time – but Microsoft has indicated it could walk away from the acquisition if the FTC”s injunction is granted.
