Sony believes Microsoft buying Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard could convince people to buy Xbox consoles instead of PS5 machines.
In a filing to the Brazilian authorities, Sony revealed its thoughts on the pending takeover, claiming Call of Duty is so popular it could “influences users’ choice of console” if only available on Xbox consoles.
Microsoft has, thus far, indicated Call of Duty games will continue to be available on Xbox and PlayStation consoles for the foreseeable future.
Nonetheless the takeover seems to have Sony spooked. In comments spied by ResetEra and translated by Eurogamer‘s Portuguese site, Sony intimated it could never hope to rival Call of Duty.
Sony said: “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.”
“Call of Duty is heavily entrenched, so no rival – no matter how relevant – can achieve it,” the company said, when asked to comment on the transaction. “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.”
It concludes that Call of Duty “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”.
Sony ranks Call of Duty alongside the Star Wars, Game of Thrones and Harry Potter franchises globally and says that the first-person shooter has “no rival.” PlayStation consoles are definitely getting this year’s version of the game, which is a reboot of Modern Warfare 2, and Microsoft has promised to respect the agreement “into the future”
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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.
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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.
