Re:Xbox has accused Sony of paying Game Pass 'block fees' to...
by blargey on Thursday August 11, 2022 @04:20PM
(#32431234)
In the videogames industry, it’s fundamentally the same category of competition (or stifling thereof) as an acquisition.
When Sony or Microsoft acquire game studios or publishers, both the goal and method is the same - giving their platform an advantage by paying a lump sum for control over the target platforms and storefronts of one or more games.
So it’s presumably also a case-by-case thing, like other big acquisitions / cumulative patterns of acquisitions.
So far, the industry seems to be “healthy enough” in spite of these sorts of deals. The big storefront/console competitors that are attacking each other are all huge and evenly matched, so none of them can exert this sort of control over anywhere near a majority of the market.
When Sony or Microsoft acquire game studios or publishers, both the goal and method is the same - giving their platform an advantage by paying a lump sum for control over the target platforms and storefronts of one or more games.
So it’s presumably also a case-by-case thing, like other big acquisitions / cumulative patterns of acquisitions.
So far, the industry seems to be “healthy enough” in spite of these sorts of deals. The big storefront/console competitors that are attacking each other are all huge and evenly matched, so none of them can exert this sort of control over anywhere near a majority of the market.