A Fortnite and odd days: the console wars
The videogames industry is called to play a key role in the development and design of the future digital arena, ranging from the up-and-coming metaverse to the digital platforms’ future innovation. At this point, projections show that video gaming can surpass $220 billion in revenue in 2024, wherea...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Universidade Católica Editora
2022-11-01
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| Series: | Market and Competition Law Review |
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| Online Access: | https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/mclawreview/article/view/11398 |
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| author | Alba Ribera Martínez |
| author_facet | Alba Ribera Martínez |
| author_sort | Alba Ribera Martínez |
| collection | DOAJ |
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The videogames industry is called to play a key role in the development and design of the future digital arena, ranging from the up-and-coming metaverse to the digital platforms’ future innovation. At this point, projections show that video gaming can surpass $220 billion in revenue in 2024, whereas the entertainment industry’s revenues are rapidly decreasing. Still, the video gaming sector has gone largely unnoticed by competition law authorities. A few skewed and inconsistent decisions have tried to set out the relevant product and geographical markets. However, the subsequent developments over the years do not show a linear sequence of events. Instead, several breakthroughs such as introducing cloud gaming and subscription video gaming services have contributed to blurring the lines of market delineation altogether. The European Commission’s approach through merger control has been instrumental to provide some guidance on the subject, although its Vivendi/Activision, Activision Blizzard/King and Microsoft/ZeniMax have not paid attention to the special characteristics of video gaming, namely differences between user experience when playing different game genres and when playing across platforms. Given the foregoing, we will first address the videogame market’s economic conditions and particularities overlooked by competition authorities when performing their analysis, namely in the preliminary stage of market definition. Based on these findings, the article builds on the calls for intervention with regard to the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard4 operation and instrumentalises it as a yardstick to measure the wider impact of acquisitions within the video gaming market.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f7fad921c641471595ac62ce2a7d575d |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2184-0008 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | Universidade Católica Editora |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Market and Competition Law Review |
| spelling | doaj-art-f7fad921c641471595ac62ce2a7d575d2025-01-02T23:24:31ZengUniversidade Católica EditoraMarket and Competition Law Review2184-00082022-11-016210.34632/mclawreview.2022.11398A Fortnite and odd days: the console warsAlba Ribera Martínez0University Carlos III of Madrid, School of Law and Social Sciences The videogames industry is called to play a key role in the development and design of the future digital arena, ranging from the up-and-coming metaverse to the digital platforms’ future innovation. At this point, projections show that video gaming can surpass $220 billion in revenue in 2024, whereas the entertainment industry’s revenues are rapidly decreasing. Still, the video gaming sector has gone largely unnoticed by competition law authorities. A few skewed and inconsistent decisions have tried to set out the relevant product and geographical markets. However, the subsequent developments over the years do not show a linear sequence of events. Instead, several breakthroughs such as introducing cloud gaming and subscription video gaming services have contributed to blurring the lines of market delineation altogether. The European Commission’s approach through merger control has been instrumental to provide some guidance on the subject, although its Vivendi/Activision, Activision Blizzard/King and Microsoft/ZeniMax have not paid attention to the special characteristics of video gaming, namely differences between user experience when playing different game genres and when playing across platforms. Given the foregoing, we will first address the videogame market’s economic conditions and particularities overlooked by competition authorities when performing their analysis, namely in the preliminary stage of market definition. Based on these findings, the article builds on the calls for intervention with regard to the Microsoft/Activision Blizzard4 operation and instrumentalises it as a yardstick to measure the wider impact of acquisitions within the video gaming market. https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/mclawreview/article/view/11398VideogamesConsolesMarket definitionEcosystemsInteroperability |
| spellingShingle | Alba Ribera Martínez A Fortnite and odd days: the console wars Market and Competition Law Review Videogames Consoles Market definition Ecosystems Interoperability |
| title | A Fortnite and odd days: the console wars |
| title_full | A Fortnite and odd days: the console wars |
| title_fullStr | A Fortnite and odd days: the console wars |
| title_full_unstemmed | A Fortnite and odd days: the console wars |
| title_short | A Fortnite and odd days: the console wars |
| title_sort | fortnite and odd days the console wars |
| topic | Videogames Consoles Market definition Ecosystems Interoperability |
| url | https://revistas.ucp.pt/index.php/mclawreview/article/view/11398 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT albariberamartinez afortniteandodddaystheconsolewars AT albariberamartinez fortniteandodddaystheconsolewars |