Sony previously submitted a number of complaints to regulators about Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard merger plans, and with the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) conducting the second phase of its investigation into the deal, Sony’s complaint documents have been made public, revealing some of the specifics of what the company has been saying behind the scenes to the regulator.
The document spans several pages, and Sony makes a number of interesting arguments, notably Sony’s claim that if Microsoft gains too much market power, they can start raising the price of the Xbox.
According to Sony, “Microsoft will be able to: increase the price of Xbox consoles and games (including those switching from PlayStation); increase the price of Game Pass; reduce innovation and reduce product quality.”
If Microsoft is leading the market, they may indeed increase the price of services like Game Pass and the price of Xbox consoles. But the irony is that Sony itself used its market position in the PS4 generation to raise consumer prices for this generation of games and consoles. The PS5 cost £450 when it launched, but the price has since been raised to £500. Prior to this, Sony had pushed for £70 as the new “standard” launch price for new games, which was quickly accepted by other publishers, making the overall game market more expensive.
Sony also said in the filing that Microsoft’s strategy is to push Sony out and relegate the PlayStation brand to “Nintendo status,” meaning that the PlayStation won’t be the one-stop shop for playing all of the top-selling shooters. In stores, the Xbox will take its place, swaying users’ decisions about which console to buy.
