Sony’s recent filing with the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) regarding Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard has raised some serious concerns about the potential for Call of Duty to be sabotaged on PlayStation. In the documents, Sony expressed its worries that Microsoft could release a version of Call of Duty on PlayStation that has poorer quality and performance than the Xbox version.
The PlayStation manufacturer cited a hypothetical situation where Microsoft could release a PlayStation version of Call of Duty with bugs and errors that emerge only on the game’s final level or after later updates. Sony believes that, even if the degradations are quickly detected, any remedy would likely come too late, as gamers would have already lost confidence in PlayStation as the go-to platform to play Call of Duty.
Sony’s filing also suggested that Microsoft could strategically derail the momentum of Call of Duty on PlayStation by ignoring features specific to that platform or by restricting, degrading, or not investing in the multiplayer experience on PlayStation. This could make the franchise play better on Xbox by comparison.
Microsoft has responded to Sony’s filing with its own documents to the CMA, stating that any Call of Duty game in a Microsoft multi-game subscription is eligible for inclusion in Sony’s multi-game subscription service, at the same time and for the same duration. Microsoft has also reportedly offered Sony a 10-year deal to keep the franchise on PlayStation, and offered and accepted the same deal with Nintendo.
The UK CMA has released a provisional report that includes concerns that Microsoft will need to address, while the Federal Trade Commission has sued Microsoft in the US over the acquisition. EU regulators are reportedly ready to approve the deal, but the UK CMA will need to make a final ruling before the acquisition can move forward.
It remains to be seen how the UK CMA will handle the acquisition and the potential for Call of Duty to be sabotaged on PlayStation. In the meantime, gamers will be closely watching the situation to see what the outcome will be.