More fuel to the fire for the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard soap opera.
Without going into too much detail at the outset since this issue is becoming quite well known, what is being experienced between PlayStation and Xbox is for filmsince the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by the latter together with the fact that Call of Duty could not only end up being xbox exclusivebut that it could come out at launch on Xbox Game Pass is causing Sony to use all its weapons to prevent it.
In fact, to mention some of these measures, Sony would not have announced its PlayStation Showcase because it would not want give reason to regulators of the purchase of Activision Blizzard to speed up the process, since, after all, the company’s main argument would be that the exclusivity of Call of Duty would create an imbalance in the market.
PlayStation would have blocked the arrival of Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass
Given this, it seems that the debate goes much further, since, although to the public, Microsoft has been cooperative, the truth is that this company does not stop making comments regarding Sony’s actions, being so, just as it would have happened in the past with other titles, now they affirm that Sony would have blocked the arrival of Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass during these years.
In fact, it is not the first time that Microsoft mentions these so-called block rightssince everything points to other licenses such as Final Fantasy and Resident Evil would be or would have suffered the same fate, thereby giving rise to the same consisting of one company, in this case Sony, paying another to don’t release your games on Xbox Game Pass or any other service.
We kinda knew this already, but Microsoft makes it clear that Sony’s deal for Call of Duty includes “restrictions on the ability of Activision Blizzard to place Call of Duty titles on Game Pass for a number of years.” https://t.co/BfdfbE1Ae7 pic.twitter.com/37nEXYjfuj
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) October 18, 2022
It should be noted that this would justify Sony’s resistance in giving in despite Phil Spencer has confirmed that Call of Duty will not be exclusive Xbox, having a status similar to that seen in Minecraft. However, it seems that Sony’s objective, in case there was any doubt about them, is to prevent it from reaching Microsoft’s star service on consoles and that it does not stop growing over time.
It remains to be seen how this matter ends, but what seems obvious is that we have a soap opera for a whileas some regulatory bodies are still not entirely convinced by this acquisition.