There is an ongoing battle between Microsoft and Sony right now. While both competitors have strived to outdo each other regarding video game platforms and software releases, the big focus as of late is a new acquisition. First, Microsoft made a massive bid to acquire Activision Blizzard. The company is offering Activision Blizzard an outstanding $69 billion, and the purchase has been anything but smooth. Right now, the deal is still being looked over by regulators, and recently we’re finding some new responses from Sony to the CMA, the UK competitions regulator.
It’s clear that the focus of this acquisition deal is on Call of Duty. This massive IP franchise has been a hit across both Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation platforms. However, the fear initially from Sony was that Call of Duty would become an exclusive, losing out on the game franchise altogether. Since then, Microsoft has made several comments and even legal contract drafts to ensure that the Call of Duty franchise remains on PlayStation and even find its way to the Nintendo Switch platform. Microsoft is still keeping up on this stance that they wish to see Call of Duty continue thriving across multiple platforms rather than being an Xbox console exclusive release.
But it’s also noted that the exclusive deals would end. We wouldn’t see any platform receive special exclusive content. Everything would appear the same regardless of what platform you’re playing the game on. So today, we’re finding a new comment coming out from Sony to the CMA, thanks to a tweet from CharlieIntel. Apparently, Sony is claiming that the resources to craft the Call of Duty games would prioritize Microsoft’s platforms. As a result, the top developers would focus on the Xbox version of the game while Sony’s PlayStation platform would be left severely lacking.
In Sony’s eyes, this deal would prompt bugs and technical issues for PlayStation Call of Duty releases. That would result in players viewing the PlayStation platform as a second-class and less competitive venue. We’re still waiting to see if this deal will go in favor of Microsoft or not. Likewise, if this deal does go in Microsoft’s favor, it would be interesting to see if Sony tries to combatant with their own massive acquisition deal. However, they are only allocated to spend $5 billion until 2024 on acquisitions, and that money is not strictly meant for video game development studios.
