Sony fears that Microsoft’s Call of Duty non-exclusivity promises will end like the Bethesda acquisition.
Sony outlined the reasons why it does not believe Microsoft’s statements regarding the launch of the call of duty series on competing devices. The PlayStation owner has made this clear in a statement included in a document shared by the UK’s Consumer Protection Authority (CMA).
The Call of Duty theme remains central to Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Granted, the company promised that CoD would continue to be released on PlayStation (and appear on Nintendo consoles), but Sony has already hinted more than once that it doesn’t believe those claims.
In the same CMA document, Sony Interactive Entertainment mentions that the Redmond giant is known for not respecting the commitments imposed by regulators. SIE also raised the issue of the acquisition of ZeniMax and its games (including star field) as evidence of the lack of sincerity of Microsoft’s intentions.
The European Commission document on this purchase mentions (page 22) that after the transaction, “Microsoft would have no reason to stop or limit the availability of ZeniMax games for purchase on competing consoles”. Company representatives made similar assurances during an investor call (via Seeking Alpha).
Meanwhile, just a year later, Phil Spencer claimed the deal would “deliver great exclusive games” for Xbox. Later it was revealed that star field — certainly Bethesda’s biggest release in many years — would be would not appear in PlayStation 5.
Therefore, Sony believes that if the deal with Activision Blizzard goes through, Microsoft could try to reduce Call of Duty’s presence on competing consoles. Or, as he claims, sabotaging the releases on those platforms to make them less appealing than on Xboxes.
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Passionate about video games (and others) for years, he completed an MBA in linguistics, defending a thesis on games. He started his adventure with GlobeLiveMedia in 2015, writing in the editorial department, then also covering movies and oh, horror! – technology (also a contributor to the Games Encyclopedia). He started with platform games, which he still loves (including metroidvania), but he also likes card games (including “analog” games), fighting games, soul games and virtually any other kind of game. Don’t ask about the graphics: after a few hours of exposure, you can revel in pixelated game characters reminiscent of the days of the Game Boy era (if not older).
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