It’s good to see them taking a stand against monopolizing, but it kind of rings hollow when they are one themselves. Sony has made it clear that they are firmly against Microsoft’s proposed $75B purchase of Activision and monopolization of the video game market…even though they are also a monopoly too.
There’s not much worse in this world than being a hypocrite, and especially so when it comes off as shallow and self-serving as Sony’s criticism of Microsoft.
Okay, I know it’s strange to see me defending the greedy, corrosive monopoly that Microsoft has become, but it’s only fair that I call out the other side of a coin when I see it. And especially so when that other side has vocally come out against Microsoft’s monopolistic practices despite engaging in the same vile schemes, though to a slightly lesser extreme.
As perhaps the company with the most successful and renowned exclusive games on the market, Sony and its video game console, PlayStation, is probably one of the leading factors as to why Microsoft has been so aggressive in buying all the best video game studios and their famous franchises along with them.
I mean, if you look at the last ten years’ worth of Game of the Year award winners and highest selling games of the year, you’d see why Microsoft desperately wants to purchase the likes of Bethesda and Activision.
In the last ten years, Sony has published three Game of the Year award winners (2012: Journey, 2013: The Last of Us, 2018: God of War) and Activision has published an astonishing 8 of the 10 bestselling games (2012: Call of Duty (COD): Black Ops II, 2014: COD: Advanced Warfare, 2015: COD: Black Ops III, 2016: COD: Infinite Warfare, 2017: COD: WWII, 2019: COD: Modern Warfare, 2021: COD: Vanguard, 2022: COD: Modern Warfare II) between 2012-2022.
(Sony/Naughty Dog Studio-The Last of Us 1 Remake-Story Trailer)
The two other bestselling games was Grand Theft Auto V (Rockstar) in 2013 and Red Dead Redemption 2 (also Rockstar) in 2018.
Meanwhile, the seven other Game of the Year award winners were with Indie studios (ex: House House created Untitled Goose Game in 2019, Super Giant Games created Hades in 2020), EA (Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014; It Takes Two in 2021), Bethesda (Fallout 4 in 2015), Blizzard (Overwatch in 2016), Nintendo (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in 2017), and FromSoftware (Elden Ring in 2022).
Can you see a glaring name missing from the Game of the Year award and highest selling games lists? Oh, that’s right, MICROSOFT!
Simply put, in the last ten years, all of Microsoft’s studios have failed to both produce high-quality games that critics adore and games that sell millions of copies worth worldwide. And, for a studio that lost the PC Wars to Apple over 30+ years ago, losing the Video Game Wars to Sony, Activision, Bethesda, Nintendo, etc. was a fate they simply could not accept.
That’s why 8 of the last 10 bestselling game publishers (Activision) and two of the last ten Game of the Year winning publishers (Bethesda, Blizzard) are soon to be all dominated under the monopolizing iron-fist of Microsoft.
But, like I said, Sony set the precedent for this corrosive behavior as they kept great games like the Uncharted franchise (app. 30M collective copies sold), The Last of Us franchise (37M collective copies sold), the God of War franchise (45M collective copies sold), Ghost of Tsushima (9.7M copies sold), Death Stranding (5M copies sold), Bloodborne (2M copies sold), and Demon’s Soul (1.4M copies sold) hidden behind the “PlayStation Exclusive” label.
Clearly, if you were Microsoft and you see your direct competitor not only produce Game of the Year winning titles consistently, but also generate at least 130M game copies sold as “PlayStation Exclusive Games” that you can’t sell on your own platform, you’d be doing the same thing Microsoft is doing now too.
(Sony/Santa Monica Studio-God of War Ragnarök-2021 Reveal Trailer)
I’m not excusing Microsoft’s crony behavior, but I’m also not letting Sony off the hook.
They are one of the main reasons why the gaming sphere finds itself in such a sorry state and should not be complaining about it until they stop their own mini-monopolization practices first.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Sony) (God Of War Ragnarök – PlayStation Showcase 2021 Reveal Trailer | PS5 Games – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: Sony/Naughty Dog Studio) (The Last of Us – Story Trailer – YouTube)
In Text Image 2: (Sony/Santa Monica Studio) (God Of War Ragnarök – PlayStation Showcase 2021 Reveal Trailer | PS5 Games – YouTube)
