They say that the “truth will set you free,” but we all know the truth is a bit more complicated than that, right? Sometimes saying the truth puts you in more trouble than you intended, especially if it’s a very “blunt truth.” Why are we bringing this up? Well, currently, Microsoft is fighting Sony not only in the console wars but in a legal war. The Xbox brand has been doing its best to expand over the last several years by buying up some of the biggest gaming developers around and having them make titles exclusive to Xbox, like with their purchase of Bethesda.
Last year, they reached an even bigger deal when they lined out a deal to help them buy Activision Blizzard, which would give them another massive game dev to work with and the rights to several major franchises to do with as they please. That got Sony riled up, and one of the heads of that brand, Jim Ryan, has been doing everything he could to get the FTC and certain foreign bodies to block the trade, which they have temporarily done. That brings us to now, where Microsoft made a rather unique admission during an appeal of the decision, as covered by The Verge.
That admission? That Xbox has been losing the console wars since day one!
While that may not be “a shock to hear” to any who have paid attention to the console wars over the generation, the last thing that the main three publishers want to admit is that they’ve done something wrong. But the people at the appeal are making it clear that they’ve done “everything” wrong over the four generations of Xbox consoles, and thus they’ve remained in third place while “its rivals are positioned to continue to dominate.”
They even note, incorrectly, how Sony has been the No.1 console maker for two decades and five generations. Gamer fans will know that’s inaccurate because the Nintendo Wii dominated the market while the PS3 floundered, and the Nintendo Switch has been the most dominant console of the last six years and is now one of the best-selling systems of all time behind only the PS2 and the Nintendo DS.
Regardless, the reason they’re “stooping” to this tactic is to appeal that they “need this merger” to help themselves grow.
That’s a curious way of going about things, especially since last week, Phil Spencer made it clear that he felt that Xbox was doing “better than ever.”
We’ll have to wait and see if this tactic works.
