New Statement From Microsoft In FTC Legal Battle Reveals Xbox Officially “Lost The Console Wars”

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Over the course of a year and half now, Microsoft has fight tirelessly to acquire Activision Blizzard. And despite the pushback from many online, the Xbox firm has won plenty of ground in many territories. This includes the more recent victory by the E.U. Commission last month granting a pass for the purchase. However, the U.K. CMA says otherwise when declaring the deal to be against the favor of the consumer.

Already, the United States Federal Trade Commission shares plans to take this conversation to the courts with Microsoft. This month, however, the regulator already obtained an injunction on the deal which restrains further progress to be made on the acquisition. Additionally, the FTC also concluded that much of combatants towards the deal is due to the handling of the Bethesda acquisition as Microsoft’s actions is not of what it stated then.

As the water continues to boil, a new statement from Microsoft admittedly verifies that Xbox did in fact lose the console war. Amid users of all platforms engaging in online discourse for which platform is better, Xbox is the first to pull its troops, it appears. “Xbox has lost the console wars, 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 document shares.

The document goes on to note the continued dominance Sony has maintained since the founding of PlayStation. “Sony is the dominant player in consoles. Sony PlayStation, for over two decades and through five generations, has been the leading console both worldwide and in the U.S. Sony’s gamer base is [redacted] as large as Xbox’s worldwide, and [redacted] larger in the United States.”

“Xbox’s console has consistently ranked third (of three) behind PlayStation and Nintendo in sales. In 2021, Xbox had a share of 16% while Nintendo and PlayStation had shares of [redacted] and [redacted] respectively.” Transparently, Microsoft is aware of this. In part due to vocal support of PlayStation, but also the tactics PlayStation utilized for its platform.

Previously, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in an interview shared intent to minimize the amount of damage done by PlayStation with the Activision Blizzard deal. ‘Sony is trying to protect its dominance on the console. The way they grow is by making Xbox smaller,” Spencer stated. You can read the full report by heading here.

What is your takeaway from the comment by Microsoft?

Source: Federal Trade Commission