WI Sony and Nintendo merged in 2006?

[Gamingboy]

For all you video game fans out there;


What if Sony and Nintendo (2 of the biggest video game countries in the world), merged into one company (Nintendo-Sony). It would be clear that a Nintendo-Sony Playstation3/Gamecube 2 would ROCK. But That's not what I'm wondering: Would Microsoft be crushed in the Video Game industry? Would Nintendo-Sony run into problems with Anti-Trust laws? If so, where? Would it be in Europe? Japan? America?

[NapoleonXIV]

I realize that video games are a multi-billion dollar industry but they're still just a market segment of computers, yes? That being so, does anti-trust apply to them? OTOH if they're operating in "restraint of trade" doesn't that qualify? Possibly Microsoft could get a deal, like they did with Apple, if Nintendo/Sony was 'crushing' them in the marketplace. As to where, America wins on that one. Not only are they the biggest market but I think both Europe and Japan are more lax about antitrust than the US. (does Japan, with its still operative zaibatsu tradition, even have antitrust?)

[Ian the Admin]

Future events aren't alternate history. This goes in the chat forum.