46
submitted 1 year ago by JRepin@lemmy.ml to c/gaming@lemmy.ml

The Federal Trade Commission's request for an injunction stopping that acquisition heads toward opening arguments this week, the federal regulator cites one piece of what it calls "powerful evidence" that it can't trust Microsoft's assurances. In short, as the FTC puts it, "Microsoft's actions following its 2021 acquisition of ZeniMax speak louder than Defendants' words."

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] Katana314@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Maybe it’s just me - I see enough game studios being formed week by week, not even just making crummy pixel games, that I can never picture any publisher being “the only game in town” in any remotely significant way.

[-] silent_clash@lemmygrad.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Just look at what Spotify has done to the music industry. There was a massive contraction in the music buying market and music streaming services now are fully dominant. And Spotify + Apple have used their oligopoly status to fuck over artists and even record labels, forcing them to accept a fraction of a penny per stream.

It's not a one to one comparison, but I could see subscription-based game licensing crowding out buy to own games eventually if Microsoft keeps consolidating the market as it has been. And then, once consumers are used to never paying for games individually, Microsoft, Amazon, Sony, etc will be able to dictate whatever terms they want to game developers.

this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
46 points (94.2% liked)

Gaming

19728 readers
418 users here now

Sub for any gaming related content!

Rules:

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS