We continue with the novel of the takeover of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft. In this case, we’ll give some background on how Sony’s arguments are circulating in an attempt to block the deal, its main reference being the issue of competition via digital media and the “monopoly” of services that it would have Microsoft. and Xbox in the future.
As Sony testified before the CMA on October 28, the potential of digital games was a “critical moment” for the industry, which Microsoft knows well. From then on, the American company would have armored itself on all sides, leaving the path marked out for the digital era of gaming; This is what Sony says, arguing that they will control the entire market if Activision joins them with its unmissable catalog of video games.
The transaction threatens the gaming ecosystem at a critical time. It would take an irreplaceable game franchise, Call of Duty, from independent hands and combine it with Microsoft’s successful gaming system (Xbox), the leading multi-game subscription service (Game Pass), the operating system Dominant PC (Windows) and the leading cloud platform (Azure). The only way to preserve strong competition and protect independent consumers and developers is to ensure that Activision remains independently owned and controlled.
Sony fears Xbox Game Pass will be an unbeatable service in the future
As we said, the industry is moving towards a digital trend, which means that video game development is also adapting to different mechanics. Video games with game-as-a-service models have become popular since the rise of Fortnite, which Xbox has done with many of its games by providing them with long-lasting features to monetize. Sony, for its part, ignored this trend and stuck to more vintage games; For that very reason, they bought Bungie, which makes Destiny a game-as-a-service.
With all this, we are left with Sony’s arguments to stop the purchase, its strong point being to attack the Xbox and its Game Pass service. Why? The answer is simple, the Xbox Game Pass is a model that is not profitable for Sony and its style of games. With the purchase of Activision, and if these games became exclusive in the future, PlayStation would be left out of the cake of games like Call of Duty, losing nearly all of its console sales.
In this way, Microsoft counterattacks by asking the CMA to assess the reasons why many PlayStation exclusive games are not included in the PS Plus subscription service on day one, which would make sense given the amount and the quality of its games:
Currently, among the first Sony exclusive parts that are not included in the PlayStation Plus offer are important video games such as The Last of Us, God of War, Spiderman and Final Fantasy 7 Remake The inclusion of such titles would certainly benefit gamers, Microsoft claims.
