Description
Sony has raised concerns about Microsoft's possible acquisition of Activision Blizzard, fearing the move could have negative consequences for the future of Call of Duty. The UK Competition and Markets Authority has published documents filed by Sony outlining the company's concerns, including fears that Microsoft could increase the price of Call of Duty, make it exclusive to its Xbox Game Pass subscription service and possibly even downgrade the quality of the game on the PlayStation platform. One specific scenario highlighted by Sony involves Microsoft releasing a PlayStation version of Call of Duty with bugs and bugs that only appear in the final level or after subsequent updates. Sony says any cure would likely come too late, potentially leading the gaming community to lose faith in PlayStation as the preferred platform for playing Call of Duty. Sony is also concerned that Microsoft may intentionally or accidentally degrade the quality and performance of Call of Duty on PlayStation compared to Xbox, ignore specific PlayStation features, or restrict and degrade the multiplayer experience on PlayStation. While Sony and Microsoft previously fought over the rights to Call of Duty and used exclusive bonuses and bundles to lure console gamers to their respective platforms, Sony's concerns about Microsoft prioritizing Call of Duty on Xbox or ignoring the Sony's new hardware features are understandable. However, it's unlikely that Microsoft will intentionally sabotage Call of Duty on buggy PlayStation, as it could lead to backlash for Activision and Microsoft. The reality may be more subtle, as Microsoft and Activision may prioritize bug fixes in Xbox versions of the game due to developer familiarity or faster issue resolution.
Sony is also concerned that Microsoft is keeping Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass and not allowing Sony to offer the title on its own PlayStation Plus service. The company says the license terms and prices would "commercially destroy" its multi-game subscription business model. Despite these concerns, Microsoft has stated that any Call of Duty game on a Microsoft Multi-Game Subscription can be included in Sony's Multi-Game Subscription service at the same time and for the same duration.
