March 9 (Portaltic/EP) –
sony has suggested in its latest reply to the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that Microsoft could release a worse version of Call of Duty for PlayStationwith lower yield and quality, causing the fans of this game decide to switch to Xbox.
The Japanese company has once again expressed its concern about Microsoft’s plans for Call of Duty in case the license is approved. purchase of Activision Blizzard by the American company.
Since the acquisition announcement, Sony and the Xbox maker are exposing the reasons why this purchase should be allowed (in the case of Microsoft) or why it would be dangerous do it for a possible monopoly in the ‘gaming’ industry (in the case of Sony).
The purchase is being investigated by authorities like the UK CMAthe European Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) of the United States, who try to define if it really is a monopoly situation or not.
In this sense, in new documents sent to the CMASony cites a hypothetical situation where Microsoft could release a Call of Duty game for PlayStation with glitches and errors in the final level or after subsequent updates, with defects such as a lower performance or poorer visual quality.
In addition, Sony stresses that, even if it quickly detected these failures, “any remedy would probably come too late.” As a consequence, the company indicates that the Call of Duty fan players could “lose trust in playstation” as a reference place to play this title and switch to Xbox.
Following this thread, the Japanese company gives an example of what happened with Modern Warfare II, where users bought the game mainly during the first weeks of its release. Therefore, “if it was known that the game performance on PlayStation was worse than on Xbox”, Call of Duty players could decide to use Xbox“for fear of playing their favorite game in a second-rate or less competitive venue.”
Even the parent company of PlayStation exposes the different ways in which Microsoft can try to “sabotage” the game on this console. As you mention, you can downgrade Call of Duty to “ignore PlayStation-specific features such as better controller haptics” or “restrict, downgrade or not invest in the multiplayer experience on PlayStation”.
In this regard, Sony also states that it would be difficult to assess how Microsoft chooses the allocation of your resources and “the quality or quantity” of engineers engaged in the PlayStation version of the game. In fact, he says, “there would be no practical way to ensure that it was treated fairly or equitably.”
During this time, the PlayStation company has continually shown concern about whether Microsoft will keep Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass and not on PlayStation Plus. However, Microsoft offered Sony last December a 10-year contract to keep this title on PlayStation.
In any case, Microsoft also included in his response to CMAwhich offered Sony provide “parity in release date, content, features, updates, quality, and gameplay with the Xbox platform.” For its part, the CMA must make a decision on the purchase agreement before April 26 of this year.
