PlayStation boss Jim Ryan has stated that the potential degrading of PlayStation versions of Call of Duty could cause “serious damage” to the brand. Ryan’s statement was part of a wider statement released by PlayStation in response to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority’s new stance that Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard wouldn’t be bad for the console gaming market.
Ryan essentially says that a worse version of Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms would have such a massive impact on Sony that its business would never recover from the playerbase switching from PlayStation to Xbox. Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Sony has expressed such concerns.
“Any degradation in the price, performance, or quality of play on PlayStation or any delays on release would quickly harm SIE’s reputation and cause a loss of engagement and of players,” said PlayStation’s statement.
“As SIE’s CEO, Jim Ryan, explained to the CMA at the Remedies Hearing, if PlayStation received a degraded version of Call of Duty, it would “seriously damage our reputation. Our gamers would desert our platform in droves and network effects would exacerbate the problem. Our business would never recover.”
Sony had earlier called the CMA’s statement “surprising, unprecedented, and irrational” in response to the regulatory body’s softened stance on the merger. Microsoft had released a statement around the same time stating that it would be better for the company to keep releasing Call of Duty across all platforms.
The UK’s CMA is slated to make its final decision about Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard by April 26.