The UK regulator, Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), warned that if Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is approved, they could impede competition by holding back content from Sony, providing limited features on competitor consoles, and reducing the quality of Activision games on PlayStation.
In a reply to CMA, Sony echoes with the UK regulator, saying if Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard, they could increase the price of Call of Duty, restrict it to Xbox Game Pass, and intentionally or unintentionally diminish the quality and performance of Call of Duty on PlayStation.
Sony presents a hypothetical scenario where Microsoft might possibly release a version of Call of Duty on PlayStation with glitches and malfunctions, specifically in its final level.
“Microsoft might release a PlayStation version of Call of Duty where bugs and errors emerge only on the game’s final level or after later updates. Even if such degradations could be swiftly detected, any remedy would likely come too late, by which time the gaming community would have lost confidence in PlayStation as a go-to venue to play Call of Duty. Indeed, as Modern Warfare II attests, Call of Duty is most often purchased in just the first few weeks of release. If it became known that the game’s performance on PlayStation was worse than on Xbox, Call of Duty gamers could decide to switch to Xbox, for fear of playing their favourite game at a second-class or less competitive venue,” reads the excerpt.
Sony is concerned that Microsoft may intentionally harm Call of Duty’s performance on PlayStation by degrading its quality compared to Xbox, ignoring PlayStation-specific features like better controller haptics, or restricting, degrading, or neglecting its multiplayer experience on PlayStation.
Another concern that Sony has is Microsoft may keep Call of Duty exclusively on Xbox Game Pass, preventing Sony from offering the game on its own PlayStation Plus service. Contrarily, in its CMA filing, Microsoft claims that any Call of Duty game available in their multi-game subscription service will be made accessible to Sony’s multi-game subscription service simultaneously and for the same duration.
What Microsoft has to say
Microsoft, in the filing to CMA, proposed a licensing deal to Sony for the Call of Duty franchise. The 10-year deal would ensure parity for Call of Duty titles between Xbox and PlayStation. Earlier also, Microsoft offered a similar deal to Sony, to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. However, Sony labelled the deal “inadequate on many levels.”
In the filing to CMA, Microsoft proposed a licensing deal to Sony for the Call of Duty franchise. The 10-year deal would ensure parity for Call of Duty titles between Xbox and PlayStation. Earlier also, Microsoft offered a similar deal to Sony, to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. However, Sony labelled the deal “inadequate on many levels.”
Microsoft had signed a similar deal with Nintendo and Nvidia, committing to bring Call of Duty titles to their players the same day as it arrives on Xbox. These recent licensing agreements with Nintendo and Nvidia are said to have alleviated concerns, and the EU is likely to approve Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision.
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