In line with the recent release of Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2, the Activision takeover from Microsoft is entering the next round. The one who complains particularly extensively is the competitor Sony – mainly because of Call of Duty.
The British antitrust authority CMA is currently investigating whether the takeover can be approved or whether this will create a monopoly in the video game sector. The two companies have now released two documents designed to defend their respective views.
While Sony with 22 pages gets along, has Microsoft proud 111 pages written. Microsoft is downplaying its potentially own franchise soon, while Sony is praising CoD to the skies – as if that weren’t enough, Battlefield is being dragged into this mud fight.
In the following article, our editor Peter explains why the takeover of Diablo is more important:
Activision acquisition
Diablo is much more valuable to Microsoft than Call of Duty
CoD vs. Battlefield
Some important quotations can be found in the respective documents, which are intended to underline the underlying argumentation. We summarize the most exciting passages for you:
That’s Sony’s reasoning
From the point of view of the Japanese company, Call of Duty is an unassailable size in the shooter segment. EA’s Battlefield series is shown as an example. Despite the similarities between CoD and Battlefield, the latter could not keep up.
The CoD series has sold a total of over 400 million copies as of August 2021, while Battlefield has sold just 88.7 million games.
Call of Duty is too entrenched for any rival, no matter how well equipped, to catch up. It has been the best selling game almost every year for the last decade and is overwhelmingly the best selling game in the FPS genre.
However, Dice is making efforts to boost Battlefield 2042’s crushingly low player base. For example, the new season brings some innovations into play, you can watch the trailer here:
2:13
Battlefield 2042 wants to give you 100 reasons to play Season 3
That’s Microsoft’s reasoning
The Xbox manufacturer claims Sony’s monopoly is unfounded, after all, Call of Duty is just one of many successful shooters. The document lists Fortnite, Apex Legends, Battlefield, Rainbow Six: Siege, Destiny, and other titles that Sony would still have access to. Microsoft also offered to set a ten-year contract over which any CoD games would also come to Sony’s console.
Besides be In terms of gameplay, Call of Duty isn’t that good at all in contrast to other Sony titles – CoD has not yet received the Sony award for this game of the year
most anticipated gamethe Metacritic ratings are never exceptionally good and the games are consistently rated worse than them on many well-known websites such as IGN and Game Rant
top games.
The exclusive games from Xbox are also inferior to those from Sony – both in number and in quality. There were more than 280 exclusive first- and third-party titles on PlayStation in 2021, nearly five times more than Xbox. […] The average meta score for Sony’s top 20 exclusive games of 2021 is 87/100, for Xbox 80/100.
Microsoft even goes one step further and draws the comparison to Nintendobecause they too could establish themselves in the video game market without Call of Duty. But Sony counters this argument: This reveals Microsoft’s true strategy. Microsoft wants PlayStation to become like Nintendo so it becomes a less close and less effective competitor to Xbox.
Microsoft would agree one-stop-shop
for all best selling shooter franchises like CoD, Halo, Gears of War, Doom and Overwatch.
By the way, we clarify here which titles Microsoft would get under its hat with the Activision deal:
Activision acquisition
These games and studios will soon be owned by Microsoft
What’s next?
It is far from clear whether the takeover will end positively for Microsoft. The British antitrust authorities have already expressed concerns in Septemberthat the deal could create a monopoly position. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella showed up the same month however confident that everything will go smoothly.
Microsoft is definitely right about one thing: The reviews of Call of Duty are certainly not outstanding, the new Warzone 2 is currently being rated particularly negatively on Steam. But at the same time, the new CoD Modern Warfare 2 achieved billions in sales in record time.
Do you think Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision would create an imbalance? Write it to us in the comments!
Table of Contents
