“Unprecedented and irrational”: Sony questions UK turn in favor of Microsoft in Activision case

‘Call of Duty’ has become a decisive element in Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard. Given the size of the operation, valued at $68.7 billion, regulators in different regions of the world, including the UK CMA, must give the go-ahead. Sony, however, is trying to convince them that such a move represents a threat to competition.

The concerns of the Japanese company revolve around losing the war franchise. Sony considers ‘Call of Duy’ an “irreplaceable” title, so if Microsoft decided to make it an Xbox exclusive, should the Activision Blizzard purchase go ahead, the PlayStation maker would experience a heavy loss of players, that they would resort to the console of their main competitor to play.

Point in favor of Microsoft and Sony’s response

Two very important events in Europe are coming up in this story: the final verdicts of the CMA and the European Commission. He UK regulator He will be the first to manifest himself, although he has already announced his provisional conclusions. In a document released last week, the agency said competition in the console video game industry would not be materially affected by Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard.

Those revised statements, because initially the CMA had provisionally considered that the operation could limit competition, were not well received by all. As usual in this type of process, the main parties involved must send your answers. Those of the manufacturer of PlayStation, precisely, have not been entirely happy and point to the “change of direction” of the British regulator.

Sony has called the CMA’s position “surprising, unprecedented and irrational.” Along the same lines, the company has ensured that the agency had at its disposal a large amount of evidence which supports the possibility that Microsoft could be interested in “retaining” certain Activision content for PlayStation, a scenario that translated into a diminished chance of competing.

The CMA, after analyzing the documents provided by the different parties in the case, believes that Microsoft would not be financially favored if it decided to stop offering ‘Call of Duty’ and other Activision content on PlayStation. In this sense, those from Redmond have tried to calm the waters with a deal with Sony that guarantees the arrival of the war franchise on their platform for the next 10 years.

The truth is that Sony has rejected that proposal, as well as rejects the provisional position of the CMA. For the Japanese company, the agency you have not calculated the profits correctly that Microsoft would receive in case of making ‘Call of Duty’ an Xbox exclusive title. This move would not make Microsoft lose money, but would end up increasing its revenue, according to the PlayStation manufacturer.

For now, we have to wait until April 26 to find out the final verdict of the CMA on this very important operation for the video game industry. In the month of May, always referring to Europe, the one from the European Commission will arrive. As we say, the purchase of Activision Blizzard is in the hands of the regulators, and we will soon know how this story will end.

Images: Activision (1, 2)

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