FTC v. Microsoft: all the news from the big Xbox courtroom battle
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We’re now hearing evidence about Microsoft contemplating holding off games from PlayStation and offsetting those revenues against potential Xbox Game Pass subscribers.
This has to be something that Microsoft commonly looks as with these acquisitions, but the FTC points out that Xbox CFO Tim Stuart asks “What happens if revenue that Activision earns on PlayStation declines?” and then “Let’s calculate Game Pass subs and how much revenue would have to move over to Xbox to offset that gap.”
The FTC is implying here that Microsoft could take Call of Duty or other Activision games exclusive and try to make up the revenues with Xbox Game Pass subscriptions.
A colleague of Stuart’s, Jamie Lawver, a finance director at Xbox, ran the numbers to create a table that would show many subscribers Microsoft needed for Game Pass or how much Activision revenue would need to shift to console to make up for lost revenues from Sony.
