Microsoft and Sony continue to lock horns over the former’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with regulatory bodies around the world currently in the process of investigating a deal as they prepare to publish final reports in the coming weeks. Call of Duty in particular has been a sticking point for Sony and regulatory bodies, and though Microsoft has taken several steps to assuage concerns over how it will approach releasing the franchise on PlayStation platforms, it seems Sony remains unconvinced.
For instance, as reported by Axios’ Stephen Totilo on Twitter, Sony has said in a new statement submitted to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that the Call of Duty deal Microsoft currently has on the table for PlayStation will do more harm than good, not only for Sony, but for the games industry as a whole.
“We believe their current offer will irreparably harm competition and innovation in the industry,” Sony says in its statement.
Microsoft has offered to bring Call of Duty to PlayStation day and date for at least the next ten years with full features and content parity, similar a a binding deals it has agreed with both Nintendo and Nvidia, though Sony has yet to accept the deal. Microsoft has also said that it will allow Sony to put Call of Duty on PlayStation Plus at launch under the same terms as Game Pass.
Sony, meanwhile, has resisted Microsoft’s attempts, saying that it features Microsoft could sabotage Call of Duty games on PlayStation through late-game or post-launch bugs on the platform that could damage the audience’s trust in PlayStation as the go-to platform for Call of Duty experiences.
Interestingly, it’s also recently emerged that behind-the-scenes, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan has said that he doesn’t want a new Call of Duty deal from Microsoft, and only wants to block the company’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
New statement from Sony, says Microsoft's current Call of Duty offer "will irreparably harm competition" and says it was Microsoft that requested redactions of the public filing of the deal it offered to PlayStation pic.twitter.com/5rztGqTvku
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) March 10, 2023
