Heh, the current generation are x86 pcs.
Wait… Shouldn’t the percentage of Playstation console owners with an Xbox be the same as Xbox console owners with a Playstation?
I don’t think this is weird, it’s literally why I don’t play games on PC and haven’t for over 10 years. I don’t like sitting in this work chair.
And the point I am trying to make is that “high performance consoles” is a nonsense made-up market the FTC has created by removing Gaming PCs from the discussion. A market segment that they have created because it strengthens their argument against the merger. It is a viable alternative with huge shares of users that consume AAA content on them.
It’s definitely a made up market that the FTC has created, but I do think it’s a little naive to suggest it doesn’t have some basis in reality. There’s a reason, for instance, that console manufacturers boast about their “Console Exclusives” at E3.
What I am trying to say here, is that gaming PCs can be used as consoles, if wanted, or portable devices, if the consumer wants to. To say they can’t function the same role as a gaming console is wrong.
Xbox does not have console exclusives though, as every game exclusive to their platform is available on PC (and in most cases, streaming to any device)
That’s what “console exclusive” means. On one console, and then also maybe on PC/mobile etc.
Not for Sony first party titles
Let me load up God of War Ragnarok on PC
That doesn’t change what they use the term to mean. Not to mention that Ragnarok will almost certainly be on PC in a year.
This is literally the argument I am trying to make that breaks the “2 console” world the FTC is making. Sony is currently operating under that environment. Microsoft is not, and Microsoft has put a huge amount of effort in making the PC environment completely equal to the Xbox in terms of games offerings.
Microsoft is specifically not tying their exclusive titles from publishers they have purchased to one device or “high performance gaming console” Sony is.
Making the market they are trying to argue exists, irrelevant really.
Microsoft is not pushing people to the XSX, they are pushing people to the Microsoft store platform.
And yet, both manufacturers boast about their “console exclusives” even when they’re playable on PC, which suggests they do think it’s a different form of market. Is it enough of a different market to justify treatment as a relevant market for antitrust purposes? I don’t know. US courts have been pretty skeptical of that sort of slicing and dicing historically. I don’t think it’s an indefensible argument though.
I only see Sony doing this. Every Microsoft published game says it is exclusive to XSX and PC. (or sometimes PC only with an XSX release later)
No, only if they sell the same amount of consoles.
For example, if there’s 100 Playstations out there, and 50 Xboxes, and 25 people own both, then 25% of PS owners have Xbox, and 50% of Xbox owners have a PS in that example.
There are a lot of PC games on this list:
The specific phrasing is “Other video gaming devices available today are not commercially reasonable alternatives to Hig-Performance consoles”. Notice the “Commercially”- this isn’t from the perspective of the consumer, but the industry. It doesn’t matter that you can play the same games on the PC, it matters whether or not that is part of the same business niche the PS and XBOX are competing for.
The public discussion about the MS-Activision deal often approaches it from the viewpoint of “Am I ok with not playing CoD on my PS6 in 2025” while regulators are looking at it as "will this make it possible for this corporation to unfairly block competition from other companies. We as buyers of games mostly factor as the source of revenue.
Well, according to the FTC PC games don’t count.
Um, OK? Not sure what you’re trying to say. The point is that both manufacturers use the term “console exclusive” extensively in their marketing and they mean it’s not available on the other consoles, whether or not it’s available on PC. Clearly they think this is a point worth making or they wouldn’t do it. Which suggests that whatever substitutability PCs might have it’s not complete.
They don’t
Sony does, Microsoft doesn’t
I literally just posted a link with them using it! Or watch any of their E3 presentations.