Microsoft claims that PlayStation controls 70% of the console market

Brad Smith, Microsoft vice chairman and president, has claimed that Sony’s PlayStation controls the majority of the console market worldwide when compared to Microsoft’s Xbox.

The details:

• During a closed hearing at the European Commission in Brussels, Smith claimed that PlayStation holds a market share as high as 96% in certain regions. As reported by gamesindustry.biz, Smith said, "Think about the market in Europe. It is a market where Sony has an 80% share. Globally, it is about 70/30. In Japan, it is 96/4.”
• Smith went on to say that the numbers have been "remarkably steady for two decades," with Sony’s supply struggles last year not causing much of a shift and the tech company coming back "strong." He also added that, according to data from the International Data Group (IDG), the PlayStation had outsold the Xbox by 69 to 31 at the end of 2022.
• The conference was held in order for Microsoft to try to persuade the regulator that its $69 billion bid to acquire Call of Duty publisher Activision-Blizzard will not cause significant harm to its market competitors. Sony has claimed that the possibility of franchises such as Call of Duty becoming exclusive to Xbox and its partners would cause a large number of players to abandon the PlayStation platform. Regulators are also concerned about Microsoft dominating the video game streaming market due to the success of its Game Pass service alongside its Windows operating system and Azure cloud computing platform.

In other news from Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard:

• Microsoft announced that it has entered a partnership with hardware manufacturer Nvidia to bring all of its PC games, including Call of Duty, to its GeForce Now streaming service. Nvidia has joined Nintendo in collaborating with the tech giant to bring its gaming properties to their respective platforms.
• Activision has confirmed that it suffered from a security breach in December 2022 following a successful SMS phishing attempt, resulting in the alleged release schedule for Modern Warfare II being leaked. Despite claims from the attackers that sensitive company data had been accessed and stolen, Activision has since denied this, stating that "no sensitive employee data, game code, or player data was accessed."
• A set of recently leaked screenshots shows what appears to be an in-development version of Halo: Reach’s classic Forge World within Halo Infinite. The map will reportedly be added as a canvas for the game’s Forge mode and will expand upon the original version, giving players access to previously closed-off areas.
• Activision-Blizzard is forcing its full-time remote workers to return to physical office locations after almost three years of remote-only working. This has since caused employees at the publisher to condemn the "return to office plan" that will start in the coming months.