Ever since Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Activision, a lot of very strange things have said by everyone involved. On one hand, Microsoft has been doing its best to argue that spending $68.7 billion on a company is a very casual thing, and really shouldn’t be considered a big deal. In an attempt to prove this point, Microsoft said that “there is nothing unique about the video games developed and published by Activision Blizzard that is a ‘must have’ for rival PC and console video game distributors”, which is a baffling thought.
Very recently, it also claimed that “Sony has more exclusive games than Microsoft, many of which are better quality”, which is a very bizarre thing to say about a rival company, even if oddly pleasant. Sony, however, is not at all comfortable with the thought that Call of Duty will soon be in Xbox’s hands.
Check out some gameplay footage from Modern Warfare II below.
Despite claims from Xbox boss Phil Spencer that “Call of Duty will be on PlayStation as long as players want to play Call of Duty on PlayStation”, as The Verge reports, Sony has continued to argue that Microsoft owning the IP could potentially put the company in a powerful position.
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“Call of Duty is not replicable. Call of Duty is too entrenched for any rival, no matter how well equipped, to catch up,” Sony told the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). “Other publishers do not have the resources or expertise to match its success.”
Continuing, Sony decided to directly mention the Battlefield series, and basically say that it’s got nothing on CoD, which is a bit mean. The company wrote: “To give a concrete example, Electronic Arts - one of the largest third-party developers after Activision - has tried for many years to produce a rival to Call of Duty with its Battlefield series. Despite the similarities between Call of Duty and Battlefield - and despite EA’s track record in developing other successful AAA franchises (such as FIFA, Mass Effect, Need for Speed, and Star Wars: Battlefront) - the Battlefield franchise cannot keep up.”
While you can understand Sony’s concern, it has to be said that it’s slightly unnecessary to see so many games, developers and publishers get dragged through the dirt in an effort to either see Microsoft’s acquisition go through - or block it completely, depending on which side you’re looking at. In a similar ilk, as part of this same argument, Microsoft recently claimed that The Elder Scrolls VI of all things will be a “mid-sized” game, which fans are floored by.
It’s a turbulent time for the acquisition - there are some concerns that the it could end up being halted, but no official word has been given on this yet.
Featured Image Credit: Activision/BattlefieldTopics: Sony, Battlefield, Call Of Duty, Microsoft, Activision