In the FTC Vs. Microsoft battle, the FTC is trying to figure out what the Switch is
This gaming stuff is hard!
We’ve been down this road before, so I’ll try to keep it very brief. Microsoft has been looking to acquire Activision Blizzard, and they’ve been met with opposition. This has led to a legal battle between Microsoft and the FTC, which is taking place right now.
During the courtroom battle, all sorts of gaming topics are being discussed. Not surprisingly, Nintendo has been a topic addressed numerous times. Just today, the FTC has been asking Microsoft’s Phil Spencer about the Switch. Through their line of questioning, it’s clear the FTC and their legal team has no clue what the hell gaming is all about.
According to the FTC’s legal counsel, they’re not sure the Switch should be counted in the same console market as the one that Xbox operates in. Now you and I easily recognize that while the Switch is a console and portable in one, it’s a gaming platform first and foremost, and it offers multiple titles you can also find on Xbox. To the FTC, all of this gaming talk is almost like a foreign language.
Questioning then went onto how many frames per second the Switch can handle, along with the GPU teraflops the hardware is capable of. Again, the FTC is trying to use this information to show that the Switch operates in a completely different market and shouldn’t be counted in the discussion…which I think we’d all agree is just wrong.
Just to drive the point home, the FTC’s lawyer asked Spencer if the, “Xbox X metric operates higher FLOPs than Switch,” which we all know is the main way everyone into gaming measures the worth of a system.
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kuribo
11d agoI think we had some verbiage a while back from the FTC where they classed Nintendo, and Switch, as a different market compared to Xbox Series and PS5.
vinlauria
11d agoSwitch is a Gen9 handheld with home console-like capabilities thanks to its controls being detachable and able to still connect to the system wirelessly as well as its interoperability with an included dock to provide TV output and consistent wall power so as to enable a higher system power profile for driving a TV's higher display resolution.
Side note: Wikipedia calls the Switch a Gen8 system. Wikipedia is wrong.
lucius6
10d agoThe FTC and CMA for that matter, are both sounding like Sony fanboys and Call of Duty fans. Their tact absolutely beggars belief. It's contrary to industry strategies for the past 30 years and especially Sony's agressive third party exclusivity shenanigans.
The fact the Switch is market leader without Call of Duty is damning to the FTC's case, so of course they want to discredit it lol. This line of reasoning really hurts any authority they have and makes them sound like teenagers.
This is really infuriating. I hate third party exclusives and aquisitions as much as the next guy (so long as it's not Jim Ryan or Phil Spencer!) but Microsoft's actions are not outlandish and have years of precedence.
Either there is corruption / favouritism afoot or the FTC is simply not fit for purpose
Amazing that people think power compared to systems outside its own family is what determines a generation. It's about chronology, and naturally the next one is gonna be more powerful than the previous.
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