RELATED: Xbox Game Pass Is Set To Receive A Host Of Activision Blizzard Games
On his personal TikTok account, Conover explained that the takeover of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft could hurt competition, but it could hurt competition far more than people have realized so far. He believes that Xbox could use its Game Pass platform to basically cripple the rest of the video game world by offering its service for $9.99 a month while everyone else has to continue asking for $60 or $70 per copy.
He explained that Microsoft can continue to use Game Pass and its ever-growing subscriber base as a way to undercut Sony and Nintendo, mainly because the company never has to make money off the platform. While Sony and Nintendo need their video game divisions to make money, Microsoft can lean on its larger business operations such as the Windows operating system that’s used by almost every PC in the world not made by Apple.
He added that should Microsoft’s takeover of Activision Blizzard get final approval, the goal isn’t simply to weaken competition so that the company can be considered the best of the best. Rather, once it has become the most powerful video game company by offering titles at severely reduced prices, Microsoft will then be free to raise prices well past what they are now. In short, Conover believes that Microsoft wants to use its “massive cash advantage to undercut and dominate the entire game industry.” He added that this would be “bad for video game makers and video game players.”
MORE: How The Xbox - Activision Deal Compares To Other Recent Buyouts
