A regulator from the United Kingdom has published Sony's response to Microsoft's ongoing acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The previously confidential comments have now been released to the public, and offer an extensive look into the specifics of Sony's contentions regarding the largest deal in video game history.
Microsoft's proposed $68.7 billion acquisition is currently under scrutiny from the regulatory bodies of 16 countries, with Saudi Arabia and Brazil having already approved it. But the fortune that Microsoft has thus been afforded is beginning to stall as more skeptical governments progress their investigations. One such entity is the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which last month requested the public to voice their opinions on Microsoft's merger. The appeal succeeded an Issues Statement that outlined preliminary concerns, reiterating similar rhetoric to that of Jim Ryan, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, who has made the Call of Duty franchise a flashpoint of this legal conflict.
Phil Spencer, head of Xbox, and Ryan have increasingly vocalized their views publicly, seemingly after initial negotiations between the two parties failed to reach an accord. The CMA's recent publications provide the most comprehensive details of arguments posed by both Sony and Microsoft to date, outside of attempts to court public opinion. Sony's summary opens with a definitive affirmation of the CMA's findings, claiming to believe "strongly that the Transaction will harm competition, industry participants, innovation, and consumers."
Sony then immediately refer to the crux of its anxiety, pointing to Call of Duty as an element of Activision's catalog which is "irreplaceable" if a platform were ever to lose the ability to sell it. The PlayStation owner is insistent that with Call of Duty "under Microsoft's sole control," one of its primary competitors gains "an unprecedented content advantage." Additional details suggest that as of October 28, the date these observations were submitted to the CMA, Sony was not convinced by promises to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony explicitly cited that Microsoft does not contest intentions to make "Activision content exclusive to Game Pass," subsequently locking those properties out of featuring on PlayStation Plus. Sony goes on to detail that it believes harm would be inflicted on consumers, competition, and independent developers if the deal were to be approved.
Justifications provided include the assessment that if Call of Duty was to be made exclusive, a "significant number of PlayStation users would likely switch to Xbox," and that the acquisition "would tip demand for multi-game subscriptions services towards Xbox/Game Pass," resulting in a worse business environment for indie developers who benefit from healthy competition between Game Pass and PlayStation Plus. After critiquing Microsoft's position, Sony concludes its observations by stating the deal "threatens the gaming ecosystem at a critical moment," but will likely find it challenging to overcome accusations of hypocrisy from some in the gaming community, who point out PlayStation's aggressive use of exclusive content to attract consumers.
Source: UK Government