PlayStation says it can't survive losing Call Of Duty

Microsoft made the first steps to acquire Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard back in January 2022 for an eye-watering $68.7 billion and it's been by no means a straightforward process.

As reported by Eurogamer, in the latest twist to the tale, a document filed by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, Sony says that it: “cannot protect against the loss of Call Of Duty.”

PlayStation has been around for many more years than Call Of Duty, and both will likely be around for many years to come. Both entities are certainly large enough to exist without each other, in my opinion. However, it seems that Sony is more concerned with the power Microsoft will gain by acquiring Activision Blizzard and owning the rights to Call Of Duty.

There’s little denying that if Microsoft acquires Activision Blizzard, it will give Xbox a major advantage, especially when it comes to Game Pass. Though I doubt the survival of PlayStation would depend on it. What’s more, Microsoft has reportedly offered Sony a 10-year deal to keep Call Of Duty on PlayStation, which was apparently declined.

“SIE's recent development experience of shooter/battle royale games is limited and its main active shooter franchise is significantly less impactful than Call Of Duty," Sony wrote. “Destiny, SIE's main active first-person shooter franchise, had only [redacted percentage] of the gameplay hours and [redacted percentage] of the game spend of Call of Duty in 2021.”

Following the claim made by Sony, Microsoft responded by stating: “Sony's position must be seen for what it is: a self-serving attempt to protect its dominant market position, rather than one founded on genuine concerns regarding its continued access to COD - which it could have secured months ago.”

Sony’s response was to then reiterate the importance of Call Of Duty to PlayStation, claiming “few franchises as enduring and as significant in terms of PlayStation's revenue and gameplay time" as Call Of Duty, and to create a rival would garner “a low chance of success.”

Hopefully one day, Sony might revive the likes of Killzone and/or Resistance for PlayStation 5 or even the PlayStation 6, so that it may become less reliant on the COD franchise.