Filing: Microsoft says Xbox “lost the console wars”, with a 16% share of console sales in 2021, behind Nintendo and PlayStation, and a 21% installed base share
The FTC wants to block it because Microsoft might want exclusives. — Which is exactly the strategy Sony and Nintendo employ to greater success. — Oh, and Sony has sold over 30 percent more PS5 consoles than Xbox Series X| … Twitter: Tom Warren / @tomwarren : Microsoft says Xbox has “lost the console wars.” Ahead of the FTC case today, Microsoft is keen to show Xbox is in third place. Microsoft reveals Xbox had 16 percent share of console sales in 2021 and 21 percent of the console install base https://www.theverge.com/... [image] Natalie Hanson / @nhanson_reports : I'm in an evidentiary hearing this morning in San Francisco federal court, where the FTC is presenting evidence in an attempt to win a preliminary injunction blocking Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard - before the end of the month. @CourthouseNews @juankandajuan : Everything I've told you all is literally being confirmed today. If you never believed my distaste for Xbox was genuine todays the day you find out why I liked their original strategy and hate their current one. After this Im heading back to FFXVI https://www.theverge.com/... @johnxuandou : I don't think “Our dick is tiny and we can't make good decisions we're really bad at running a company we suck so bad please just let us buy up the biggest players in the industry we need it” is the game winning argument they think it is. https://twitter.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarren : PlayStation chief Jim Ryan knew the Activision deal wasn't about Xbox exclusives. In a private email exchange he said “it is not an exclusivity play at all. They're thinking bigger than that.” Full email details here: https://www.theverge.com/... Michael / @legacykillahd : Xbox is actually a small indie game company... https://twitter.com/... Tom Warren / @tomwarren : it's FTC vs. Microsoft day. Here's how this case could quickly turn into Xbox vs. PlayStation and what to expect from the FTC and Microsoft arguments over the 5-day hearing https://www.theverge.com/... Forums: r/XboxSeriesX : PlayStation Boss Jim Ryan ‘Pretty Sure’ Call of Duty Will Remain on PlayStation in Bombshell Email - IGN r/Competitiveoverwatch : PlayStation Boss Jim Ryan ‘Pretty Sure’ Call of Duty Will Remain on PlayStation in Bombshell Email
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft’s earlier platform strategy left future Bethesda releases subject to a case-by-case console decision, while the FTC’s challenge to Activision centered on whether ownership could turn major games into exclusives. The company’s disclosed Xbox position supplies factual context for that dispute rather than merely a competitive talking point.
The filing’s argument also aligns with subsequent testimony that Xbox was missing internal goals and viewed Activision as a route into mobile, while the UK regulator’s separate concern was the still-developing cloud-gaming market. Xbox’s account of its weak business performance therefore broadens the deal’s rationale beyond selling more consoles.
First-order effects
- Microsoft can use its smaller console sales and installed-base shares to argue that it lacks the market position the FTC’s exclusivity theory presumes.
- Sony’s public case against the transaction faces added tension with Jim Ryan’s private assessment that the deal was not chiefly about exclusivity, though the FTC can still focus on the incentives created by ownership of Activision games.
Second-order effects
- The case shifts attention from console-unit leadership toward whether game libraries can strengthen Microsoft in mobile and cloud distribution, areas identified in the related coverage as central to the transaction’s strategy and scrutiny.
- PlayStation and Nintendo retain an incentive to defend exclusive-content advantages; Microsoft’s weaker base makes the commercial payoff and opportunity cost of withholding a large title from rival platforms a key issue.
Third-order effects
- Console competition is increasingly assessed as part of a wider ecosystem of content, subscriptions, mobile reach, and cloud access—not solely hardware share.
- If regulators continue to treat game ownership as a potential lever across emerging distribution channels, platform acquisitions may face scrutiny even when the buyer trails in traditional console sales.
The trend: Gaming antitrust is moving from a narrow console-share debate toward control of content across subscription, mobile, and cloud distribution.