Summary
- Xbox Game Pass and Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard are causing concerns for Sony PlayStation, as they offer impressive game libraries and threaten Sony's current market position.
- Sony believes that Xbox's acquisition of Activision Blizzard could lead to exclusive content and features for Xbox users, which presents a serious issue for Sony's PS+ subscription service.
- Xbox's acquisition also gives it a strong position in the PC and mobile markets, as well as an impressive library of popular live-service games, posing an uncertain future for PlayStation. However, Sony is already working on a solution.
Leaked Sony documents reveal that PlayStation is worried about Xbox's recent moves within the industry. Sony detailed its concerns over Xbox Game Pass, as well as Microsoft's high-profile acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Xbox Game Pass, which offers subscribers an impressive library of Xbox games for a monthly fee, has proven to be an innovative and successful idea. The service is available to both Xbox and PC users, and reportedly sports 25 million subscribers as of September 2023. Additionally, in October 2023, Microsoft completed its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, bringing an impressive library of games under Xbox's umbrella. While some thought that Sony's impressive PlayStation 5 sales and remarkable lineup of exclusive AAA games would shield the company from Xbox's aggressive moves, it seems that it may be more worried than previously thought.
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Leaked slides reveal that Sony believes Xbox's recent acquisition poses a major threat to the future of PlayStation, partly due to Activision Blizzard's Call of Duty series likely becoming a Game Pass title and receiving exclusive items and features on Xbox, once the series' current exclusivity deal with Sony ends in 2027. This may extend to all Activision Blizzard games, which consist of some of the most prevalent franchises in gaming. Sony explains that this presents a serious issue for its PS+ subscription service, which is a competitor to Game Pass. The company believes that this acquisition will allow Xbox to "leapfrog" Sony's current position in the market.
The slides also detail Sony's worries that the $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard gave the Xbox platform a fully-fledged PC storefront in Battle.net, a strong position in the mobile market, and an impressive library of popular live-service games. The Activision Blizzard acquisition supplied Xbox with massive franchises like World of Warcraft and Candy Crush, in addition to Call of Duty. This spells an uncertain future for PlayStation, but Sony fans can be relieved to know that the company seems to already be working on a solution.
These documents come as part of a wider leak that stemmed from PlayStation-owned Insomniac Games, which saw over 1.3 million of its internal documents released following a breach by hackers. If readers are worried about potential spoilers regarding future titles from Insomniac Games like Marvel's Wolverine, it's probably best to navigate the internet carefully for a little while.
Following this news, some PlayStation fans are probably hoping for an exciting 2024. Fortunately, 2024 is filled with plenty of PlayStation releases that give fans reason to be hopeful for the console's future.
Sony PlayStation 5
- 4K Capabilities
- Yes, Up to 4K 120Hz
- Power Source
- AC Power
- What's Included
- Console, HDMI Cable, Controller, A/C Power, Stand, Documentation
- Storage
- 825GB
- Brand
- Sony PlayStation
- Processing Power
- Up to 10.3 TFLOPS
The Sony PlayStation 5 console is one of the most popular gaming machines currently with a fast SSD, a custom AMD APU, and 16GB of GDDR6 console memory, making it one of the best options on the market. It also happens to have a surprising number of console exclusives and currently trades at a discount at multiple retailers nationwide.
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info