'Eliminate PlayStation': Lawyers Provide Evidence Revealing Microsoft's Intentions
Alleged internal messages sent between Microsoft employees have surfaced, making it clear that the Activision deal is aimed at eliminating PlayStation from the game market.
Welcome to another episode of the soap opera titled "Microsoft's takeover of Activision Blizzard." This time starring a group of gamers who, for fear of upsetting competition in the gaming market, some time ago issued a request to a California court to block the record deal. Although the judiciary rejected their lawsuit at the time, they apparently do not intend to give up so easily.
Microsoft's dark side
As reported by the editors of Axios, lawyers representing the gamers in question provided evidence in the form of an email sent between Xbox representatives.
Unfortunately, we do not know the exact content of the message, as the document has been redacted, but from the description provided by the lawyers, we learn that the head of Xbox Games Studios, Matt Booty, allegedly sent a message to Microsoft's CFO, Tim Stuart, in which he stressed that the acquisition of Activision Blizzard would eliminate PlayStation from the gaming market.
And while it's no secret that either corporation would love to see the demise of its market opponent, due to this new piece of evidence Microsoft could lose a lot in the eyes of the community. Especially since the Americans have been arguing for months about their crystal clear intentions towards Sony.
Microsoft's response
Finally, it is worth mentioning that the editor of Axios was contacted by a Microsoft spokesperson, who stressed that the above email was from 2019, which is long before the announcement of the company's intention to buy Activision Blizzard (the proposition was announced in early 2022). Nevertheless, such deals are planned several years in advance, so it cannot be ruled out that the Americans were preparing ground for the merger.
