Bombs are lobbed by both sides.
Sony and Microsoft are at loggerheads over Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with each party suggesting the other is pushing for platform exclusive content.
In Brazilian government filings first spotted (and translated) by ResetEra, Sony argued against Microsoft’s plans to absorb the maker of franchises including Call of Duty.
The Call of Duty franchise is “long-running” and has “big budgets, multi-year development cycles, and fanatical followings,” according to Sony.
“Despite large budgets and resources, no other developer has managed to create a franchise to rival Activision’s Call of Duty, which stands out as a gaming category in its own right,” Sony continued.
PlayStation’s owner continued on to call Call of Duty iterations “essential game[s]”, describing each entry as “a blockbuster, a AAA-like game that has no rival”. With that in mind, Sony stated that CoD “is so popular that it influences users’ choice of console, and its network of loyal users is so ingrained that even if a competitor had the budget to develop a similar product, it wouldn’t be able to rival it.
“Call of Duty is heavily entrenched, so no rival – no matter how relevant – can achieve it,” Sony continued. “Call of Duty has been the top-selling game for nearly every year over the past decade, and for its genre, it’s overwhelmingly the best-selling game. It’s synonymous with first-person shooters and essentially defines that category.”
In a 27-page rebuttal to Sony’s claims, Microsoft didn’t hold back, saying (via translation via Eurogamer) that “the use of exclusive arrangements has been at the heart of Sony’s strategy to strengthen its presence in the gaming industry,” — a tactic used by Sony with Call of Duty of late — while at the same time pointing out PlayStation’s larger market share.
Microsoft also claimed that Sony pays developers “blocking rights” in order to prevent certain third-party titles from appearing on the likes of Xbox Game Pass.
Calling Sony’s claims “incoherent”, the rebuttal alleges that Sony’s concerns about the acquisitions are more a fear of Game Pass and its business model of “high-quality content at low costs to players”, which theatens market leadership “forged from a device-centric strategy and focused on exclusivity”.
We’ll keep you informed as this story progresses. Microsoft plans to finalise the acquisition sometime next year.
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