Microsoft is attempting to persuade Brazil's Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), the country's national competition authority, to waive through the company's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion, as we have reported last week.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is using a private procedure to investigate Microsoft acquisition-related papers in the U.S. However, that is not the situation in Brazil, where the country's competition regulator makes public data available that offer an unique insight on the commercial rivalry between Microsoft and Sony.
Microsoft Stopped Issuing Xbox One Sales
The Verge (via Game Luster) reported that at long last, some information about the Xbox One generation is revealed in court documents from Microsoft (Word doc) that were presented to Brazil's national competition regulator.
At the start of its 2016 financial year, Microsoft ceased disclosing its Xbox One sales figures and instead concentrating on Xbox Live statistics. The change meant that, following the Xbox One's rocky launch, we were never formally informed of how the Xbox One was performing in comparison to the PS4.
"Sony has surpassed Microsoft in terms of console sales and installed base, having sold more than twice as many Xbox in the last generation," data from Microsoft said, as translated from Portuguese by The Verge.
How Did Xbox One Fare Against PS4
Microsoft has not disclosed an exact Xbox One sales figure. However, it should be noted that the PS4 has sold 117.2 million units globally as of March. This means that the Xbox One must have sold fewer than 58.5 million units overall.
According to The Verge, Sony no longer reports PS4 shipments, and the most recent data is from March.
Meanwhile, Nintendo Switch has sold 111.08 million units lifetime sales.
Microsoft's Acquisition of Activision Blizzard
Activision, the troubled developer of Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, and Diablo, is being acquired by Microsoft. The Windows developer believes that after the deal closes, it would rank third among gaming companies in terms of revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. This is the company's greatest foray into the gaming industry, according to a separate The Verge news story.
Once the acquisition is completed, Microsoft intends to offer a large number of Activision's games to Xbox Game Pass. With the acquisition of Activision, Microsoft will soon release popular franchises including Candy Crush, Warcraft, Diablo, and Overwatch.
The Verge mentioned that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard comes almost a year after the tech giant paid $7.5 billion for Bethesda (ZeniMax Media). That deal, which increased the number of first-party Xbox game studios in the company to 23 at the time, was viewed as a major win for Xbox Game Pass.
Activision Blizzard's acquisition by Microsoft is now anticipated to "close in fiscal year 2023." That's a long time for a deal to conclude, but Activision Blizzard has operations in several markets, which could complicate Microsoft's regulatory approval process.
