Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which shakes the global game market. Sony, who has a negative view of the acquisition, emphasized the importance of Call of Duty and mentioned the battlefield, a competitive game.
The British Competition and Markets Authority has released a document containing the claims and arguments between Sony Interactive Entertainment and Microsoft.
SHE focused on the wavelength of Microsoft's activation based on the meaning and importance of the title of 'Call of Duty'. SHE explained that Call of Duty has been the biggest achievement in the game market with annual AAA premium franchise for 20 years, and is a key title of platform inflow. In addition, Microsoft changed the business model of the previously acquired studios and excluded the launch of the new title from the competitive platform (including PlayStation), and was concerned about the PlayStation Passing of Call of Duty.
In the short term, SHE claims that it is not possible to play Call of Duty in the PlayStation. It also said that the PlayStation users are likely to switch to Xbox or game pass in the future, which interferes with reasonable competition. This weakening of competition leads to the price hike of Xbox and the game pass, innovation and quality weakness. If Microsoft's status becomes more solid, he insisted that additional price hikes and quality weakness are possible.
In addition, EA's Battlefield explained that despite the AAA franchise performance, such as genre similarities, EA's FIFA, Mass Effect, Need For Speed, and Star Wars: Battlefront, it could not catch up with the call of duty franchise. SHE explained that the Call of Duty sold more than 400 million copies, but the battlefield sold 88.7 million copies.
Microsoft argued that the deal is not harming the competition because the PlayStation is more popular than the Xbox. In addition, Call of Duty is not a special or only title, and he also has a distance about merger and market monopoly concerns. Call of Duty gamers spent similar time for other top titles, and argued that they are more likely to promote users' consumption than others.
Nintendo was also mentioned. Microsoft countered the uniqueness of the Call of Duty, which SHE claims, saying that Nintendo was successful even if there was no Call of Duty.
SHE insisted that this is also the strategy of Microsoft. Microsoft wants the PlayStation to be like Nintendo, which is to build a less competitive relationship with Xbox. As a result, Xbox's console shooter franchise, Call of Duty, Hearer, Gears of War, Doom, and Overwatch, will be more free from competition.
Microsoft rebutted the success of the Bayonet 3, and Nintendo was once again emphasized that it was not a family-oriented company but a competitor.
The difference in views on subscription services was also focused. SHE insisted that Microsoft sees subscription services represented by game pass as game content, but can affect hardware and cloud services. Microsoft, on the other hand, argued that SHE's PS Plus was the biggest subscription service beyond the game pass and achieved it without Call of Duty. SHE also argued that the game pass is superior compared to the top of the PS Plus, which provides the same function as the game pass.
Earlier this year, Microsoft spent $68.7 billion in big deals as an acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Since then, some countries have approved the mergers and acquisitions, but the EU Executive Committee and the British competitors are investigating antitrust issues and market influence. The British Competition Market Bureau is conducting a two-stage merger investigation and is currently considering a statement and response.
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