Sony is continuing to air concerns about Xbox acquiring Activision Blizzard, namely that it will try to sabotage PlayStation versions of Call of Duty. One of the biggest gaming stories to develop over the past year is Microsoft’s surprise buyout of Activision Blizzard, a move that will bring big-name franchises like Crash Bandicoot, World of Warcraft, and Call of Duty under the ever-expanding Xbox umbrella. If it passes, this could easily be one of the biggest publisher buyouts in gaming history.
While some are excited about the possibilities of Xbox's impending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, others are concerned that Microsoft may gain a monopoly on the gaming industry after buying out so many other major third-party studios over the past few years. One of the loudest voices speaking out in opposition to the deal is Sony, with many of the rival first-party console maker’s fears being centered around the highly lucrative Call of Duty franchise. Sony has previously expressed concern that PlayStation would lose access to Call of Duty should Xbox successfully acquire it, something that Xbox representatives have repeatedly denied as the deal proceeds through international regulatory channels.
Recently, Sony has aired a new concern regarding Xbox’s Activision Blizzard merger: that its competitor could actively sabotage future Call of Duty entries on PlayStation consoles. More specifically, Sony claims that said Call of Duty games could be released with game-breaking bugs and glitches that only crop up after the final level or in a later update. Given that many players tend to buy new Call of Duty games in the first few weeks of launch, these glitches would be detected and remedied too late to change fans’ perceptions of the game on PlayStation - with the brand being potentially damaged as a result.
These concerns were aired to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which has challenged Xbox’s planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard due to potential antitrust issues since the deal was first announced early last year. Call of Duty’s significance as a blockbuster franchise has been a major part of the arguments held by the UK regulator, which has even gone as far as to suggest Call of Duty be removed from Activision Blizzard’s portfolio as a condition of the buyout. Xbox has countered these claims and suggestions by stating that cutting off PlayStation’s access to Call of Duty would make no business sense.
One could argue that intentionally sabotaging Call of Duty on PlayStation consoles wouldn’t make much sense either, as any reported bugs or glitches in a new Call of Duty title could instead reflect poorly on Microsoft or Activision Blizzard rather than the console the game is being played on. A more likely scenario could be that Activision Blizzard could prioritize bug fixes on the Xbox versions of future Call of Duty games, something that would also draw concern as Microsoft’s history-making buyout continues to pass through regulatory chapters.
Source: The Verge