Facebook and Instagram owner Meta has defended the hotly debated Microsoft Activision deal, arguing that there’s an “abundance” of content being produced and new players are entering the market constantly. As a result, Sony Interactive Entertainment technically shouldn’t suffer from a massive publishing house going to its arch-rival regardless of major franchises potentially becoming Microsoft-exclusive in the future.
Meta’s stance on Microsoft Activision deal
Meta defends Microsoft for the ABK acquisition. Taken from the CADE PDF from Brazil. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/AUglH5tDRZ
— Precursor (@pr3cursor) September 9, 2022
Responding to a series of questions posed by Brazilian competition authority CADE, Meta said that it doesn’t think segmentation of the market by platform and hardware is “appropriate.” It also believes that barriers to entry in development/publishing are pretty low. “The emergence of different business models in electronic games – including the traditional licensing model, the in-app purchase model, the subscription-based model, and the free-to-play, ad-supported model – also gave developers more options to monetize, further promoting the reduction of barriers to entry and allowing developers to bring their content to market in the most efficient way, both for them and for their users,” Meta added.
When asked who it thinks directly competes with Microsoft and Activision Blizzard when it comes to AAA games, Meta provided a lengthy list of companies including Sony Interactive Entertainment, Capcom, Electronic Arts, Epic Games, Konami, Sega, Square Enix, Take-Two Interactive, Tencent, Ubisoft, and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.
Previously, CADE quizzed Sony about the impending acquisition, which the PlayStation maker didn’t respond positively to. At present, Sony is the only company understandably opposed to the merger. It’s only in the UK that Microsoft is facing a challenge as the country’s regulatory body has expressed concerns about the deal’s impact on Sony.
In other news, Ubisoft has confirmed that there will be longer release gaps between future Assassin’s Creed games, and The Last of Us multiplayer map details have been leaked.