Sentence Purchase of Microsoft Activision entered a decisive phase. Although Saudi Arabia and Brazil have already given the green light for the acquisition, the most important territories in this matter are the United States and Europe. Both were extremely strict, and in the case of the second, are going to attract Microsoft competitors know how possible exclusivity Call of Duty it could harm them.
While it is true that Activision Blizzard’s purchase includes several studios and franchises, none of them reach the level of importance and influence Call of Duty. Why? Ranks first in sales year after year on all platforms where it is available. Therefore, making the game exclusive to Xbox could be a serious blow to its main competitor, the PlayStation.
The European regulator is aware of these concerns and wants to hear the views of other companies. According to Reuters, The European Union sent a questionnaire in which, after answering about 100 questions, he hopes to learn how a hypothetical blocking affects accessibility Call of Duty on other platforms.
First they want to know what is the relevance Call of Duty on consoles, game services and cloud gaming platforms. Also, if there are enough competitors in the video game industry who are able to develop alternatives at the level Call of Duty.
Sony already has its own opinion on the purchase of Activision and the possible fate Call of Duty
At this point, we can recall how Sony told the Brazilian regulator in early August that today no developer, not even them, can create a franchise that “rivals Call of DutySo we can already get an idea of how Sony will respond to the EU question.
Similarly, the European regulator intends to make sure that after the eventual approval of the purchase of Activision, rival companies will have no problems continuing to distribute their games on platforms such as the Microsoft Store or Xbox Game Pass:
“Video game developers, publishers and distributors have been asked if the deal will affect their negotiating positions regarding the terms of sale of console and PC games through Xbox and its Game Pass game streaming service,” the post, quoted by the medium, said.
Interestingly, they ask competitors if they think PlayStation Plus, GeForce Now, Amazon Luna, and Facebook Gaming will be more attractive when the deal is done. The answer to this question seems obvious, especially if Microsoft is really going to turn the Activision Blizzard franchises into exclusives, and not just Call of Duty—.
All companies contacted, including Sony, they have until monday october 10th to reply. With this information, the European Union will have a better idea of what Microsoft’s competitors are thinking.
Should we expect only a negative position from Sony? Or maybe not … At the end of September In search of an alpha, a finance website, reiterated that Google is also concerned about the purchase and has already spoken out to regulators. The above is curious because Mountain View has lost a lot of its weight in the sector by shutting down Stadia, its cloud gaming platforms.
Source: Hiper Textual
