Starfield – Microsoft spent a lot of money buying Bethesda and Starfield exclusivity, but apparently that still won’t be enough to challenge Sony (pic: Microsoft)

Amid the ongoing Activision buyout, new research backs Microsoft’s claims that it will even the playing field against Sony.

Microsoft would like you to believe that it’s an industry underdog, in its efforts to buy Activision Blizzard, while Sony attempts to prove the opposite and convince regulators to block the acquisition.

Underdogs typically don’t have £50 billion to spend on major acquisitions such as this but a key talking point surrounding the whole affair is whether a Microsoft owned Activision will actively harm competition or not.

It’s still going to be a while until the situation is resolved but one market research and consulting firm is of the belief that, as it stands, Microsoft’s line-up of games poses little threat to Sony.

While Microsoft plans to launch exclusives like Minecraft Legends and Forza Motorsport within the first half of 2023, it’s biggest titles are May’s Redfall and September’s Starfield. Both of which come courtesy of Bethesda, which Microsoft bought in 2020.

By comparison, Sony’s line-up of first party exclusives is shockingly slim, consisting of just Spider-Man 2, which is believed to be launching in September – the same month as Starfield.

DFC Intelligence’s research states that of the top 200 upcoming games (covering releases up through 2024), Xbox has the advantage with 26 Xbox-only titles while Sony has 22 PlayStation-only titles (this obviously includes third party games).

DFC, however, believes that even Starfield will do little to sway people into buying an Xbox Series X/S over a PlayStation 5, and that it’s ‘not enough to chop into the PlayStation market share.’

‘These titles have been anticipated for some time and presumably have been factored into purchase decisions,’ it writes. ‘On the contrary, if a title like Starfield does not meet expectations it could hurt Xbox Series X/S sales.’

That second point is undoubtedly something Microsoft and Bethesda are aware of. Following Starfield’s initial delay out of 2022, it was reported that this was to avoid it being another Cyberpunk 2077, suggesting the game would’ve been so buggy and broken that launching it in November would have been a liability.

Spider-Man 2 – information on the Spider-Man sequel should finally start to ramp up in the coming months (pic: Sony)

DFC also highlights how there’s not really a need to invest in Xbox hardware either, thanks to the Game Pass service being available on PC. Ironic considering it’s one of Microsoft’s chief selling points.

Game Pass also keeps missing financial targets and Microsoft recently admitted that it harms traditional game sales.

DFC concludes by positing that the Activision acquisition could ‘go a long way toward balancing the competitive landscape’ and it falling through would put Microsoft’s position in the gaming industry in jeopardy.

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Don’t be surprised if this research gets picked up by Microsoft to help its case in getting approval for the acquisition. At the moment, multiple regulators worldwide have given it the thumbs up, but the UK’s Competition and Market’s Authority (CMA), the European Commission, and the US’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) are far more sceptical about it.

Microsoft has submitted multiple compromises and concessions, although it drew the line at the CMA’s suggestion that it can have Activision as long as it sells off the Call Of Duty franchise.

No matter how it ends, at least people will stop talking about it (pic: Microsoft)

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Amid the ongoing Activision buyout, new research backs Microsoft’s claims that it will even the playing field against Sony.