The Activision-Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft is moving towards the later stages of the deal as regulatory bodies from around the world continue to investigate the mega deal.
One of the regulatory bodies is the Government of Brazil, and they are asking third parties like Sony, Warner Bros, Ubisoft, Meta, etc, questions about the potential deal. The entirety of this review process is online, and you can read it for yourself right here.
These documents were originally spotted on video game forum resetera.com, who put together a good summary of the details.
While all of the above companies made commentary in some form, a lot of it was redacted. Regardless, the most intriguing set of answers came from Sony, with PlayStation being one of the more traditional competitors in the console space to Xbox and the most similar platform holder
Sony were asked several questions about Activision-Blizzard, including if the company made any games that did not have any close competitors. Sony responded with one game, Call of Duty, saying “Activision ‘s Call of Duty is an essential game: a “blockbuster”, a AAA-like game that has no rival”.
Sony goes on to say how there is no game comparable to Call of Duty, even a game like Battlefield does not come close to the popularity of Activision’s mega franchise. Sony continues to say that no other developers could acquire the expertise required to make a game like Call of Duty, and that the series is deeply entrenched in the minds of gamers. There is essentially nothing that can compete, at least according their statements.
Their comments show clear realization of the importance of Call of Duty to their platform. Microsoft has made it appear as though they are commited to releasing the popular FPS franchise on Playstation consoles for the foreseeable future. Even if this happens to be the case, Sony would almost assuredly lose the marketing rights for the game once previosly agreed to deals are finalized. No matter what the end scenario ends up being, Microsoft owning the Call of Duty franchise will impact Sony’s business.
Sony also commented on Game Pass, discussing their thoughts on the service and if they think anyone can compete. They say “Over the past five years, Microsoft’s Game Pass has grown to capture approximately 60-70% of the global subscription services market.”
They are then asked what it would take to create a service that could compete with Game Pass, and say “it would take several years for a competitor – even with substantial investments – to create a rival effective for Game Pass.”
They seem to openly admit there is not a current subscription service on the market that is competitive with Game Pass, which is interesting considering their newly revamped PS Plus service.
No matter Sony’s true feelings on the matter, it is fascinating to see the company be so transparent with their comments. Sony seems to understand the threat this acquisition and Microsoft’s strategy presents to their very existence, and they are laying it all out for the world to see.
Respectfully, I think the line “Sony seems to understand the threat this acquisition and Microsoft’s strategy presents to their very existence, and they are laying it all out for the world to see.” is a bit exaggerated. The ABK acquisition is not a threat to Playstation’s “very existence” and I feel like statements like those, continues to add fuel to the negative and toxic “console war” mentality/crowd. When instead we could point out that competition breeds innovation, and praise the fact that now Sony has come out with their version of game pass. Xbox and Phil Spencer have no intention of shutting down Sony, it would hurt them in the long run and they know it. Maybe I didn’t read it correctly or missed something, but it just seems like a silly thing to say.