Microsoft Says It Has No Intention to Take Call of Duty Away From PlayStation

by
William D’Angelo
, posted 2 hours ago / 430 Views

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in the UK released a new report last week on Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The report says Sony Interactive Entertainment believes if the deal were to go through it would cause Call of Duty players to switch from PlayStation to Xbox even if the series were to remain multiplatform.

Microsoft in a statement has said it has no plans to take Call of Duty away from gamers and the majority of them are on PlayStation. Keeping the franchise on PlayStation is important for the Xbox business and the economics of the acquisition. 

“Microsoft has no intention to take Call of Duty away from gamers and, indeed, it has publicly committed not to do so,” reads the response from Microsoft. “The value of Call of Duty depends on its community of gamers, the majority of whom are on PlayStation. Keeping Call of Duty on PlayStation is, therefore, a commercial imperative for the Xbox business and the economics of the Transaction.

“As such, Microsoft has offered Sony a contractual commitment to continue supplying it with Call of Duty, including new releases with feature and content parity. The Referral Decision fails to explain why in the CMA’s view Microsoft would make such commitments publicly and privately, which are also reflected in its internal documents, if it had no intention of honouring them.

“Foreclosure strategies of the type outlined in the Referral Decision would alienate the Call of Duty gamer base and tarnish both the Call of Duty and Xbox brands, undermining the rationale for the Transaction. Microsoft would place at risk significant annual revenue from sales of Call of Duty on PlayStation, as well as substantial revenues from other Xbox games distributed via PlayStation. Microsoft has been clear that it is counting on revenues from the distribution of Activision Blizzard games on Sony PlayStation.”

Microsoft added its plan is to add Activision Blizzard games on Xbox Game Pass.

“Xbox plans to bring Activision Blizzard content to its multi-game subscription, Game Pass,” added Microsoft. “This will benefit gamers, boosting the value of the subscription and expanding access to Activision Blizzard content. Activision Blizzard has not allowed its content to be included in third-party subscriptions in any meaningful way in the past.

“Again, this increased competition has not been welcomed by the market leader Sony, which has elected to protect its revenues from sales of newly released games, rather than offer gamers the choice of accessing them via its subscription, PlayStation Plus.”

The next entry in the series, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, will launch for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam and Battle.net on October 28.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D’Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.

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