Sony Makes Disingenuous Claim About Minecraft

Sony made a curious claim about Minecraft to the CMA.

In the document named SONY INTERACTIVE ENTERTAINMENT OBSERVATIONS ON THE CMA’S PROVISIONAL FINDINGS, dated March 1, 2023, Sony characterized Minecraft in this way on page 5:

“Microsoft points to Minecraft as an example of an acquisition where it did not pursue exclusivity. But this example is not relevant to an exclusivity strategy regarding future releases of Call of Duty.

Minecraft is a single release game that is already in users’ hands: unlike Call of Duty, there are no future releases of Minecraft.

The CMA correctly points out that Minecraft’s “legacy monetisation model of a one-time fee for lifetime access and updates…differs significantly from Call of Duty, where users buy the new premium iteration of the game every year for a higher fee.”

So, is Minecraft a single game? It’s true that there is one game called Minecraft, that has been released to many platforms, and that those platforms are still growing. So far, Minecraft is available on:

• Windows
• Mac
• Linux
• Android
• iOS
• PlayStation 3
• PlayStation 4
• Xbox 360
• Xbox One
• Xbox Series X|S
• Wii U
• 3DS
• Switch
• Raspberry Pi
• ChromeOS

It’s genuinely impressive how far Microsoft has brought Minecraft to since they acquired it and parent company Mojang.

In fact, the company has demonstrated sincerity in making the best versions of those games for other platforms, by allowing 4J Studios to produce the Super Mario Mash-Up Pack for Nintendo platforms. Originally released on Wii U, this was later made compatible on 3DS, and of course the Switch after it was published there.

However, here we are addressing Sony’s spurious claim. Sony suggests that Minecraft isn’t like Call of Duty because there is only one Minecraft. But is there?

The truth is, Microsoft has expanded the Minecraft franchise with multiple spinoff games, also produced by Mojang. This includes Minecraft Legends, Minecraft Dungeons, Minecraft Dungeons Arcade, Minecraft Story Mode, and Minecraft Earth. These have been published to multiple platforms themselves, with the express purpose of expanding the Minecraft franchise.

Mojang does not make annual releases of Minecraft games in the same way that Activision makes annual releases of Call of Duty games.  However, it is disingenuous to suggest that Minecraft is only a single game that Microsoft does not publish again after they release it. There are multiple Minecraft games, and there are more that will be made in the future.

But then, Sony may not be as clever as they think making these disingenuous statements. The EU and other regulators have indicated they are no longer interested in Sony’s assertion that Call of Duty must stay an independent game for PlayStation. Their interest has focused narrowly on cloud gaming competition, where Microsoft is arguably the sole big player.