Sony claims Xbox & Nintendo CoD deal is meaningless as the Switch is for children

The user Idas, the OP of the Activision-Blizzard-King Acquisition thread at Restera has shared an internal report from the MLex firm in which Sony replies to Microsoft and Nintendo’s recently announced 10-year call of duty agreement. They labeled it “smoke and mirrors” and stated, “Nintendo’s younger audience is not interested in the first-person shooter”. This goes against Nintendo’s own reporting of their player base which was shared in the image below.

The complete statement is copied below:

Microsoft’s Call of Duty deal with Nintendo is misleading, Sony argues Sony has criticized Microsoft’s deal to make the game Call of Duty available on Nintendo — should its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard be approved by regulators — as smoke and mirrors, MLex has learned. Activision Blizzard could supply Call of Duty to Nintendo today, but doesn’t, because Nintendo’s younger audience is not interested in the first-person shooter and a previous version of the game on its console was a commercial flop, the arch critic of the deal says, MLex understands.

Instead of being a logical business decision, the licensing agreement is a tactic designed to make Microsoft — whose acquisition has drawn concerns in the EU, UK and US — look cooperative with regulators, the argument goes. Furthermore, Nintendo’s Switch could not run Call of Duty easily and may never be able to, Sony argues, MLex understands. Developing a version of the game compatible with the Switch could take years, making a 10-year licensing deal meaningless.

It is easier for Nintendo to enter into such an agreement, Sony says, MLex has learned. Nintendo doesn’t need to worry about equal treatment for its subscription service or cloud gaming service as those are not areas where it currently competes aggressively, the argument goes.

MLex Internal Report