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[ParaSeoul]

A new player has entered the neverending saga of Microsoft's proposed $69 billion dollar acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell (who represents the state of Washington) weighed in on the subject today in a rather confusing fashion.

Spotted over on ResetEra, the senator made some comments during a Senate finance committee hearing on "The President's 2023 Trade Policy Agenda", which we are sure was incredibly engaging.

Senator Cantwell stated that she was "told that Sony controls a monopoly of 98% of the high-end game market, yet Japan’s government has allowed Sony to engage in blatant anti-competitive conduct through exclusive deals and payments to game publishers, establishing games that are among the most popular in Japan."

This 98% figure is quite misleading, ignoring PC, Nintendo and mobile games, and instead refers to Sony's adoption rate over Microsoft in Sony's home region of Japan, a revelation which shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone moderately aware of the video game industry.

As Luke Plunkett over at Kotaku rightly points out, it's ludicrous to suggest Sony has some kind of monopoly on the Japanese game market because "Sony doesn’t even have a 98% share of the God of War market, a series they own, since Steam is getting 30% of every sale on PC."
Obviously, we can't expect elected officials to be experts on everything, but it sure is a conspicuous take during a fairly critical moment in the ongoing acquisition effort.

Is it relevant that Microsoft (not to mention Nintendo) is headquartered within Senator Cantwell's district of Redmond, WA, or that Microsoft has contributed more than half a million dollars to Cantwell over the past two decades? We'll let you decide.

https://www.pushsquare.com/news/202...has-monopoly-on-high-end-japanese-game-market

 

[feynoob]

Both companies do lobbying a lot.
Don't get surprised about this news.
That is just how US works.

 

[Mr Moose]

Good guy Phil donated 1000.

 

[nikolino840]

Both companies do lobbying a lot.
Don't get surprised about this news.
That is just how US works.

Yep
https://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/sony-corp/summary?id=D000022261

 

[Chukhopops]

As Luke Plunkett over at Kotaku rightly points out, it's ludicrous to suggest Sony has some kind of monopoly on the Japanese game market because "Sony doesn’t even have a 98% share of the God of War market, a series they own, since Steam is getting 30% of every sale on PC."

This is even dumber than the initial statement, good job Kotaku.

 

[TheDraconian]

What does the Japanese Market have to do with the Activision Deal?

 

[feynoob]

What does the Japanese Market have to do with the Activision Deal?

Nothing.
Just dumb statements from both companies to make themselves look weak.

 

[jm89]

What does the Japanese Market have to do with the Activision Deal?

Probably won't have any effect. Sony's opposition has bought this deal to the brink, and ms are pissed and throwing as much shit at them as possible.

 

[Zephyrus0]

I really despise ms...

 

[Cyberpunkd]

"Sony doesn’t even have a 98% share of the God of War market, a series they own, since Steam is getting 30% of every sale on PC."

Market share and revenue share - can someone post that Mario Kart pie chart ? Kotaku needs a basic lesson of arithmétiques.

 

[RoboFu]

What ? No one needs to be “funded” to say what is 100% true.

 

[MasterCornholio]

What does the Japanese Market have to do with the Activision Deal?

This would only affect the regulators in Japan but I don't know how it will influence the others. Usually regulators just focus on their markets like how the CMA is focused on the UK.

 

[DenchDeckard]

Doesnt this just stay in the ABK Thread?

Also, it would be amazing if these wild comments somehow put a stop to all exclusivity deals....or at least got the knowledge out to the public and some behavioral remedies passed that ensures there are specific rules set for deals. Set payments etc. I am sure MS, want the FTC case to go to court so they can see the workings of Sonys deals behind games like Final Fantasy.

 

[MasterCornholio]

Doesnt this just stay in the ABK Thread?

Also, it would be amazing if these wild comments somehow put a stop to all exclusivity deals....or at least got the knowledge out to the public and some behavioral remedies passed that ensures there are specific rules set for deals. Set payments etc. I am sure MS, want the FTC case to go to court so they can see the workings of Sonys deals behind games like Final Fantasy.

Those deals are part of a competitive market and I doubt regulators are focused on getting rid of them. They are more worried about acquisitions than anything else due to the permanent nature of them.

 

[M1chl]

"Contributed half a milion dollars over the course of 2 decades"

Politicians are now really cheap, go get yourself one!

 

[Bragr]

Kotaku is the TMZ and Daily Star of video games.

 

[ironmang]

Breaking News: Senator sides with one of the biggest employers in their state.

 

[lh032]

told that Sony controls a monopoly of 98% of the high-end game market,

 

[DenchDeckard]

Those deals are part of a competitive market and I doubt regulators are focused on getting rid of them. They are more worried about acquisitions than anything else due to the permanent nature of them.

But, it would be good if there was more knowledge on the inner workings of the deals and how much it costs for manufacturers to secure them plus work to avoid them as much as possible, surely?

They suck.

 

[PanzerCute]

Lobbying in a nutshell.

 

[bluecowboys]

This deal is going through and these politicians are just wasting our time at this point.

 

[MasterCornholio]

But, it would be good if there was more knowledge on the inner workings of the deals and how much it costs for manufacturers to secure them plus work to avoid them as much as possible, surely?

They suck.

Finding out how they work is fine but there's a question of confidentiality that companies have a right to. As long as they are not illegal then authorities don't have an issue with them. It's just part of a competitive market and anyone can participate in those deals.

They might suck but its not the worst that can happen.

This deal is going through and these politicians are just wasting our time at this point.

It all depends on if Microsoft wants to satisfy regulators or not. We won't have long to find that out.

 

[FF:Enhanced_Reality]

Pretty sure mobile and Nintendo are fucking Sony up in Japan.

 

[Ozzy Onya A2Z]

 

[Robb]

All these metrics are so stupid.

“If we remove literally every gaming related company except Sony and MS from the market this deal should/shouldn’t be OK!!!”

 

[Punished Miku]

Sony and the CMA introduce the concept of segmenting the "high end gaming market" so that they can discount acknowledging Nintendo, who does fine without Call of Duty. MS then directly compares the Sony and MS only. Now repeating that is "being bought." Every week we look at the Japan console sales figures and laugh when MS sells less than the PS4. She's literally not saying anything here that wasn't first framed this way by the CMA and Sony.

 

[Nautilus]