Ryuu96 on 14 January 2023
Worth a read but I'll do some bullet points.
- Approved without remedies.
- Took into account arguments from the FTC and CMA.
- Sony, EA, Ubisoft among some developers contacted.
- Survey to Chilean players was done under the guidelines of the CMA (UK).
- The FNE analyse video game development and publishing as different activities.
- Analysed its effects on competition based on the distinction of "genre"
- Did not segment by type of video game (premium, AAA, casual, stand-alone, F2P, etc.) as this categorisation isn't commonly used in the industry and most shooters considered important are the AAA type anyway, adding nothing to the definition of the market, therefore they did not segment by type (FTC did).
- The market considered is LATAM (excluding Brazil) for distribution of video games, video game hardware but only Chile was considered for merchandising and marketing (think I read that right).
- They didn't segment between physical/digital distribution but considered distribution by type of device.
- Cloud gaming not coming to Chile anytime soon.
- LATAM (excluding Brazil and Mexico) likes RTS, RPG and PVP.
- Shooters and sports have the highest profits in LATAM (excluding Brazil).
- In LATAM (excluding Brazil), in the top 20 most played video games, there is only one Call of Duty title at #6. Including Brazil there is two, one is #1 and the other is #16.
- Call of Duty appears 3 times in Europe/America top 20 most played, ranking first and second in North America, therefore Call of Duty is more popular in America/Europe than LATAM.
- Microsoft & ABK aren't that big in mobile, Tencent has the largest market share both locally and globally, a share of close to 10%, Xbox + ABK share does not exceed 0%-10% in Chile and only reach 0%-10% worldwide.
- In Chile, 4 different versions of Candy Crush account for 70%-80% of revenue generated by ABK's top 10 video games by revenue.
- On the Microsoft side, Minecraft captures 90%-100% of the revenue generated by the top 10 video games in Chile.
- Market shares in LATAM by video game genre, Microsoft & ABK overlap in the genres called Action-Adventure (0-10%), Racing (10-20%) and Shooter (20-30%).
- Participation of the entity resulting from the Operation would only exceed 20% in the Shooter genre. Consequently, in none of the exposed cases would the concentration thresholds established in the Guide be exceeded.
- Post transaction, MS/ABK would have a market share of 20-30% in Chile and 10-20% globally in the digital distribution of games for PC.
- In the market for the distribution of video games for computers, Epic had a market share of [0%-10%] in Chile. In addition, Tencent expanded its distribution store to the west in 2019 and, by 2021, it had a [20%-30%] stake in Chile.
- Steams leading position is recognised.
- Call of Duty is not an essential input in LATAM.
- ABK is under competitive pressure from other publishers who also have a significant AAA portfolio in number and importance: Electronic Arts, Take Two, Ubisoft and Epic Games.
- Electronic Arts Comment: "We face significant competition from companies such as Activision Blizzard, Take-Two Interactive, Ubisoft, Epic Games, Tencent, NetEase, Netmarble, Warner Brothers, Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo, primarily when it comes to game development. and services that work on consoles, PC and/ or mobile devices... We also continue to wait for new competitors to emerge".
- Microsoft appears in tenth place on the list of AAA video games with the highest revenue, among others, with exclusive titles for Xbox such as Forza and Gears of Wars.
- Electronic Arts remains the most important developer in Chile, representing 20%-30% of the total revenue from digital sales compared to 10%-20% worldwide. Epic is 2nd in ranking and ABK in 3rd. The top 7 developers concentrate 70%-80% of the total digital sales for games for consoles in LATAM.
- Call of Duty, including its various titles, is among the leading video games currently available worldwide. However, at the Latam level (excluding Brazil), its relevance is comparatively less.
- In 2020 and globally, Call of Duty was among the top ten video games with the highest revenue generated on consoles with two of its titles, however it did not exceed Fortnite.
- Fortnite being the most successful franchise for Xbox and FIFA in the case of PlayStation.
- Therefore, the income analysis would show the presence of other players in the market with equal or greater importance than the Call franchise.
- The relevance of Call of Duty has been decreasing since the release of Fortnite.
- It is observed that Call of Duty was listed as the main video game franchise, until the launch of Fortnite in 2017
- The graphic seems to corroborate that argument: when COD had an exclusive agreement with Xbox (2005-2015), it was more relevant (and had less competition) than right now.
- Call of Duty makes too much money from Sony to make it exclusive.
- As a first precedent, we can consider that PlayStation is the console that generates the highest income for ABK, doubling in 2021 the income generated in its favor by Xbox consoles.
- Only 22% of Chilean players would abandon Playstation if COD becomes exclusive to Xbox
- Grand Theft Auto is more essential than COD to Chilean Call of Duty players
- Chile does not consider Nintendo its own market like the FTC does.
- Mentions Nintendo not having Call of Duty titles but has managed through a different strategy, to position itself as the most commercialised console in Chile.
- Chile does not consider Cloud gaming its own market, it is part of subscription services.
- Xbox came in 2nd in Chile in 2021.
Honestly though it's better to read it in full, it's hard to bullet point all of that in a clear way, I may have missed some stuff and the context is missed in some areas without further reading of the argument.