There were a lot of storylines coming out of the trial between the FTC and Microsoft. The former was trying to stop the latter from getting Activision Blizzard and expanding its “reach” in the gaming market. As you no doubt have heard by now, the FTC lost that appeal as the judge ruled that Microsoft was well within its rights to buy Activision Blizzard and that it might actually be good for the market as a whole. But there’s another element that we’re going to focus on here. Specifically, we’re talking about the Nintendo Switch was “viewed” by certain parties in the case.
You might recall that at one point, the FTC tried to state that Nintendo and its Switch platform weren’t “true competitors” to the systems of Xbox and Sony. They cited how the system is “underpowered,” is “portable,” and has various other factors that don’t “balance out” against consoles against the PS5 and the Xbox Series X/S.
To be blunt, that’s a load of crap for various reasons, and it was one of many foolish things to come out of this trial. Even Phil Spencer said it was “incorrect” to not view Nintendo as a competitor. Fast forward to now, as IGN notes, Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley stated that the Switch was a true competitor to the other systems whether the FTC wanted to admit it or not. They even noted that the Xbox Series S was priced lower to compete with the Switch. Plus, numerous high-end and popular titles are on Switch as well as the other systems.
As we noted previously, of the consoles of this gen and last gen, Minecraft performs the best on Switch sales-wise.
The judge did concede that the FTC met the “minimum requirements” to excuse the Switch from the “relevant market” but countered by saying if the court was asked to make the “final decision” on the matter, they’d side with Xbox and say the Switch is in the relevant market.
The irony is that Nintendo Switch owners are fine and arguably doing better than PS5 and Xbox Series X/S owners right now. The Switch has dominated the console market since its launch and has consistently put out top-tier titles, including many in 2023, one of which may be the Game of the Year.
Even with the Switch “winding down,” many are still playing it and enjoying it. All this shows is that the FTC was willing to say and do anything to try and prove its point, and it failed in that regard.
