Microsoft has poured cold water on suggestions it may use its Activision Blizzard purchase to Bogard the Call of Duty franchise.
As the company faces a grilling from Brazilian regulators over the proposed purchase, Microsoft revealed it had selfish reasons for keeping the iconic first person shooter brand accessible to all.
In some chippy remarks filed to Brazil’s competition watchdog, Microsoft responded to Sony’s worries Xbox owning Call of Duty would affect PS5 sales.
In the filings, Microsoft took aim at its rival for a perceived double standard over exclusivity while claiming it would not be profitable to keep Activision Blizzard games exclusively on Xbox and PC.
“Regardless of how unsurprising Sony‘s criticism of content exclusivity is – given that PlayStation’s entire strategy has been centred on exclusivity over the years – the reality is that the strategy of retaining Activision Blizzard’s games by not distributing them in rival console shops would simply not be profitable for Microsoft,” the company claims remarks translated by VGC.
“Such a strategy would be profitable only if Activision Blizzard’s games were able to attract a sufficiently large number of gamers to the Xbox console ecosystem, and if Microsoft could earn enough revenue from game sales to offset the losses from not distributing such games on rival consoles.”
It’s not the only interesting news to come from Microsoft’s retort to Sony’s objections to the takeover. Earlier today we reported on accusations Sony pays developers in order to keep their games off the Xbox Game Pass platform.
The relations between Microsoft and Sony have been relatively frictionless despite the fierce rivalry over the years, but the rush to acquire gaming’s biggest studios seems to have broken the perception of peace between the tech giants.
You might like…
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
