As Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard gets approved, Sony made statement saying that they were concerned over Call of Duty’s potential exclusivity with Xbox. Sony believes that Call of Duty is so big that it’s in a category of its own and that no other developer will create anything that rivals it. Because Call of Duty is so big, it may influence players’ choice of console which would take away from PlayStation. Microsoft responded to Sony’s issues saying that they will still face heavy competition. Microsoft named games from Ubisoft, Riot, Amazon, and Google that Call of Duty will have to compete with. Now, Microsoft claims that Sony pays developers “blocking fees” which prohibits its games going to Xbox Game Pass.
In documents sent to Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) as part of the approval of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft said “Considering that exclusivity strategies have been at the core of Sony’s strategy to strengthen its presence in the games industry, and that Sony is leader in the distribution of digital games, Sony’s concern with possible exclusivity of Activision‘s content is incoherent, to say the least.”
Microsoft continued: “It only reveals, once again, a fear about an innovative business model that offers high-quality content at low costs to gamers, threatening a leadership that has been forged from a device-centric and exclusivity-focused strategy over the years. Indeed, Microsoft’s ability to continue expanding Game Pass has been obstructed by Sony’s desire to inhibit such growth. Sony pays for ‘blocking rights’ to prevent developers from adding content to Game Pass and other competing subscription services.”
Microsoft also claimed that Sony “does not want attractive subscription services to threaten its dominance in the digital distribution market for console games,” arguing: “In other words, Sony rails against the introduction of new monetization models capable of challenging its business model.”
Following the announcement of the acquisition earlier this year, Microsoft said that they will keep Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms. Then, a report revealed that Activision Blizzard is committed to three more games on both PlayStation and Xbox. This includes Warzone 2.
Whether or not Call of Duty stays multiplatform following the three games is something we’ll have to wait and see.