Purchase of Microsoft Activision Blizzard it is still in the process of being reviewed by several regulators. While the eyes are often on regulations in the US and Europe, the acquisition must also be approved in many other regions of the world. One of them is Brazilwhere these types of topics tend to be a bit more transparent compared to other territories.
This allowed us to know for the first time which positions of various companies the Brazilian organization believes could be affected in some way by the acquisition. And the fact is that antitrust regulation presupposes that other participants in the industry can express your concern as part of the review process.
At the same time, the Brazilian authorities wanted to know the opinion of Sony, Apple, Meta, Amazon, Google, Ubisoft, Warner Bros., Bandai Namco and Riot Games. What do they have in common? All of them are part of the video game industry. Whether it’s producing your own games or providing entertainment services. Thus, the acquisition of Activision, which is such an important step for the franchises that make up…Call of Dutyfor example, it also competes.
The most interesting thing is that the Brazilian regulator made public part of the declarations of these companies (through Resetera). The one that stands out the most is without a doubt Sony, as for the first time the Japanese have expressed some concern. Why? Primarily, Sony believes that the offer of content available on consoles has an impact on consumer purchases of equipment..
“Gamers choose a platform to play based on price, specifications, and the types of games available. The content available is the main factor for the player when choosing a platform.”
Call of Duty the real cause of sleepy anxiety
So far, everything is clear, even verifiable. But Sony’s real concern is that it believes Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard is tied to an AAA franchise that is unrivaled in the industry. Of course they belong to Call of Duty. Consequently, if Microsoft at some point decided to make it exclusive or block some of its content on other platforms, there would be no way to compete directly.
Sony adds that making a AAA game is top notch Call of Duty it would require an investment of “hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of jobs”. Not only for them, but for everyone who is interested in fulfilling such a difficult mission. Same way, they doubt that anyone is capable of creating competition to match because Call of Duty it is a unique franchise that cannot be replaced.
“Apart from Activision, there are several developers/publishers capable of releasing AAA games such as EA (FIFA), Take-Two/Rockstar (Grand Theft Auto) and epic games (Fortnite). These games tend to be long-term franchises with big budgets, multi-year development cycles, and very supportive fans.
Despite all this, Sony believes that none of these developers will be able to create a franchise that can compete with Call of Duty from Activision, which stands out as a separate category of games. Call of Duty it is so popular that it influences the choice of console by users. In fact, its network of loyal users is so ingrained that even if a competitor had the budget to develop a similar product, they could not create a competitor.”
Sony thinks so too. put Call of Duty in a gaming service like Xbox Game Pass could put other competitors at a distinct disadvantage.. This is because they will allow access to the title in exchange for a reduced rate, while the rest can only charge the full price. In that sense, Sony also says it will take a few years to create an “effective” Xbox Game Pass competitor.
The good news for Sony is that, as promised by Microsoft, Call of Duty will remain a multi-platform franchise. In fact, this would be one of the key points for those from Redmond to prevent regulators from creating further approval hurdles. However, that won’t stop those from Redmond from offering the next installments of the franchise through Xbox Game Pass. A few months ago we explained to you that this was a real blow to the Microsoft table.
What do others think?
The vision of Ubisoft, Bandai Namco, Riot and Google is very different from Sony.. All of them believe that today there are no games in which there would be no fierce competition. Per Call of Duty they set an example for rivals like Battleground, apex legend, PUBG D Rainbow Six. Warner Bros., for its part, believes that there are competing companies with sufficient potential to encourage competition.
Apple and Amazon don’t seem to be interested in this., which is understandable given his current limited position in the video game industry; at least as far as their publication is concerned.
Source: Hiper Textual
