I'm all for dunking on corporations. I believe we should be preventing mergers between them. There's already too much economic power being concentrated into too few hands (see the video below, which references this merger). I believe that the MS—ABK merger should be blocked as a matter of principle, and I say this as someone who mains on Xbox (though I also own a PS5 & Switch, in case anyone forgot). Just because Xbox's global market share has declined since the days of the 360 is no excuse for approval. Microsoft is an incredibly profitable company, and as an economic entity are far larger than Sony or Nintendo. What they lack in market share they make up for in financial muscle. Any time a profitable company starts pleading poverty about anything for any reason, using it as an excuse to engage in acquisitions of other companies or to have regulations cut or to prevent wages from increasing, a healthy dose of skepticism is warranted. One gaming company buying out other gaming companies, be they large publishers or smaller studios, is just them using their financial power to press their thumbs down on the scale.
But please, let's not turn this into another excuse to engage in platform warring. There's been a couple of comments bordering on it. Remember, game consoles are just electronic toys, nothing more. We don't need to get hostile towards each other over them. Also, the companies that make them aren't your friends. Not one of them needs defending.
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In accordance to the VGC forum rules, §8.5, I hereby exercise my right to demand to be left alone regarding the subject of the effects of the pandemic on video game sales (i.e., "COVID bump").
