Sony continues to press regulators in an attempt to convince them that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision-Blizzard would irreparably harm competition.
So, once again, it expressed its concerns to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Sony has been known to oppose the merger since its announcement. Now, it suggests that Microsoft could be deliberately “knee-jerking” the performance and quality of Call of Duty on PlayStation, which could damage its brand and drive fans of the series to Microsoft’s Xbox platform. More specifically, in a letter to the British authority, the Japanese company claims.
Microsoft may release a version of Call of Duty for PlayStation where bugs and errors will only appear in the final level of the game or after later updates. Even if the specific downgrades (in quality and experience) were quickly identified, any fix (to the issues) would likely be found too late, so the gaming community would have lost faith in the PlayStation as the ideal platform to play Call of Duty of Duty. Indeed, as confirmed by the launch of Modern Warfare II, Call of Duty is usually bought in the first weeks of its release.
If it became known that the game’s performance on PlayStation was worse than on Xbox, Call of Duty players could make the decision to switch to Xbox, fearing that they would be playing their favorite game on a second-rate or less competitive platform ». The Japanese company also claims that there could be no viable way for it or the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority to assess how “Microsoft will choose to allocate resources and the quality/quantity of engineers to devote to the release of Call of Duty for PlayStation to ensure that Sony Interactive Entertainment is treated fairly and equally.” Degrading the quality of Call of Duty on PlayStation, intentionally or not, might not be the wisest move from Microsoft, as the website.
A PlayStation version of Call of Duty riddled with bugs and issues would potentially lead to an even bigger backlash against Microsoft and Activision-Blizzard than Sony Interactive Entertainment (although of course by then it would be too late we say). In any case, Microsoft noted in its latest response to the British regulator that it offered to “provide Sony with parity in release date, content, features, upgrades, quality and playability with the Xbox platform.
This, however, in case Sony finally accepts Microsoft’s proposed 10-year agreement to keep Call of Duty on the PlayStation platform. Microsoft might even be willing to agree to a third party overseeing this cross-platform parity. In its letter to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, the Japanese company reiterates its concern that Microsoft would make Call of Duty a Game Pass exclusive by keeping it away from PlayStation. But this claim, Microsoft strongly denies it and has denied it from the beginning: “As we have said in the past: it does not make sense to withdraw Call of Duty from PlayStation” the Vice President of the Microsoft Competition Law Group recently told Axios. Rima Alaily.
A spokesperson for Activision-Blizzard made the following statement recently: “Microsoft has demonstrated its commitment to making more games available on more platforms, on consoles, on PC, in the cloud and on mobile platforms.
The solutions presented are legally binding and beyond that, our passionate community of gamers would hold Microsoft accountable for keeping their promises. It’s unfortunate for consumers that Sony continues to deny the opportunity for a long-term deal and undermine the deal to protect its two-decade dominance of video games.
In an industry dominated by growing competitors from sheltered markets – who have a huge talent pool and a strong IP portfolio – the merger will allow us to continue making incredible games and ensure that those games reach more people, however they want to play them. play.
It will be some time before we know for sure whether Microsoft will be allowed to acquire Activision-Blizzard. The UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is set to issue its final decision on
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