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Joseph said that although gaming had an “explosion” during the various lockdowns, there is still a huge amount of untapped growth ahead of it: PwC reckons the global gaming industry will be worth $321 billion by 2026.

He told City A.M. that the industry has become a lot more “device agnostic”, with intellectual property (IP) for franchises becoming the new prized asset.“The business model has shifted away from products and widgets, like your standard Xbox or Playstation, and more towards subscription models, where you can pay £50 and have access to a whole range of live service games and franchises."

“The BBC is an extraordinary story of long-term survival” , enthuses Claire Enders, at the head of Enders Analysis, a media research company. This ardent defender of the public audiovisual group, high priestess of media analysis across the Channel, believes that the Corporation is a pillar of democracy, with international repercussions. “Across the world, three-quarters of people don't have access to a free press. The world relies on a very small number of public services, including the BBC."

Alice said “It’s not good. This was an implementation of a promise made by Macron in the course of this latest election cycle… a promise that was made by all the centre and centre-right candidates.”

Has this prompted much outrage from defenders of the licence fee? “No,” responds Enders. “Frankly not. It’s very hard to fight something because it was all packaged up as a measure to address the cost of living crisis.” Coupled with a socialist opposition “in disarray”, the government was effectively given carte blanche.

She added “The Senate amputated the funding to 2024, and the whole issue of the funding of the PSB becomes entirely the subject of executive action. This has the potential to stymie the kind of long-term decisions and multi-year commissions that can help make a broadcaster truly competitive. It does really hypothecate, to a considerable degree, the expenditure that can be made on programming."

Gareth said that Microsoft believed the console would soon be “irrelevant” and that the future would be subscription-based. Not everyone can afford or is interested in buying a device and then paying extra for expensive games.

He added that his deal was about excellent timing and price. An investigation into Activision’s alleged history of employee abuse and harassment has resulted in numerous lawsuits. “Activision was a distressed asset when [Microsoft] made the offer, in terms of management and toxicity in its business practices which was damaging the brand,” he said. He said Microsoft thought it had got a bargain.

Julian said a key consideration moving forward for the joint venture would be which brand will be at the forefront of this new combined offering.

He explained that whilst BT is a household name in the UK, “it may be difficult to keep the BT brand at the forefront given that the service is going to be integrated into the global operator."