The acquisition of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft is not yet done, but Sony is far from reassured about the intentions of the Redmond firm. Sony says PlayStation won’t survive if Call of Duty becomes Xbox exclusive.
In a published document, written by Sony and submitted to the UK’s CMA (Competition and Markets Authority), Sony says that it “ won’t be able to protect against losing Call of Duty “. For its part, Microsoft says that the Activision-Blizzard games are nothing unique ” and D'” indispensable ».
Call of Duty, a big franchise for Sony and its PlayStation consoles
Microsoft had officially entered into a “ 10 year commitment to bring the Call of Duty franchise to Nintendo and PlayStation consoles, following its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. But Sony and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission find it hard to trust Microsoft, even though the firm says it won’t Call of Duty an exclusive at some point. Sony thinks that Microsoft will find a way around its insuranceeven if they are legally binding.
For the Japanese firm as for the others, Call of Duty is a goose that lays golden eggs: it is the third largest franchise behind Mario et Tetris, with 400 million games sold in total in 2021. Losing the franchise would be a colossal affront to PlayStation and Sony believes it won’t survive it. As we explained to you recently, Sony even thinks that Microsoft will “sabotage” Call of Duty games on the PS5 and future consoles. Confidence reigns.
Read: Microsoft calls on Nintendo and Nvidia for help in acquiring Activision-Blizzard
Sony also claims that its recent experience developing shooters and battle royale games is limited “and that his main active shooter franchise” has much less impact than Call Of Duty “. The firm must surely talk about the franchise Destiny here, since the group acquired Bungie, last year. But it remains multiplatform.
Recall that the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft will first have to be approved by several regulatory bodies, to ensure that it does not violate antitrust laws or does not grant Microsoft a monopoly that will allow it to stifle competition. As it stands, the takeover has not yet been made.
Source : CMA
