Microsoft Says PS5, PS4 Will Still Be Big If Every Call of Duty Player Moves to Xbox

Ah, the ongoing Activision-Blizzard acquisition: a Twitter-style fanboy spat being played out in public by two major corporations – it’s all fun and games in the video game business, isn’t it? Microsoft’s unprecedented nearly $70 billion buyout is surprisingly under scrutiny, with UK regulators keeping a particularly close eye on the deal. Sony, predictably, is playing up the importance of franchises like Call of Duty in an attempt to close the deal, while the green team is acting like it’s worth a tenth of the amount it’s expected to pay. Ready to stump up for.

All this is done by businessmen and lawyers trying to get the result they want. The potential loss of Call of Duty games will ultimately hurt Sony’s business, while Microsoft clearly wants to free up as much of the industry as possible, while CEO Satya Nadella still has his checkbook open. Finally, regulators need to decide how much competition will be affected.

In a statement to Sports Industry.Biz, in response to comments made by the Competition and Markets Authority, Microsoft effectively believes that Sony is a child: “The suggestion that the current market leader, with clear and lasting market power, results in a prediction by the third largest provider. can be done Losing access to a header is unreliable. The CMA has argued that its Activision-Blizzard purchase “could impair Sony’s ability to compete”.

Microsoft went a step further, suggesting that if every Call of Duty gamer on PlayStation switched to Xbox, “the PlayStation gamer base would remain significantly larger than Xbox”. Of course, it failed to back up that hypothesis with any data. It concluded: “While Sony may not welcome increased competition, it has the ability to adapt and compete. Gamers will ultimately benefit from this increased competition and choice.”

To be fair, the Redmond firm has reiterated several times that it will continue to release Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms, though Sony has taken issue with the company’s comments. Earlier in the year, bigwig Jim Ryan went public with a statement suggesting that Microsoft had only committed to releasing Call of Duty on the PlayStation for “three more years”, a deal that he Said “inadequate”.

After all, this story is about racing; We cannot see either side backing down, and both will likely continue to present their position from a weak point of view. From our perspective, we are not convinced that the current consolidation that is happening is good for the industry, but the genie is now out of the bottle. Assuming the Activision-Blizzard deal goes through, it could be “buy or die” for Sony moving forward.