What would happen to Call of Duty if Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is officially approved? Sony in particular asks this question, even if the Redmond company classifies an exclusivity as economically nonsensical.
Microsoft’s acquisition of publisher Activision Blizzard has been making the news for over a year. And the deal is still not officially a done deal, since the “Call of Duty” case in particular is tipping the scales.
According to Sony, the revenues of the shooter brand, which has dominated the market for almost two decades, cannot be compensated if Microsoft decides to go for an Xbox exclusivity. The Redmonder had entered into negotiations with the PlayStation bosses. However, the offer was not enough for them.
Exclusivity makes no economic sense
In a statement to The Verge A Microsoft company spokeswoman has once again emphasized that keeping “Call of Duty” off the PlayStation would make no economic sense. Rima Alaily, corporate vice president and deputy general counsel at Microsoft, said there would be “absolutely no financial incentive” to push through the exclusivity.
For this reason, it has been said several times that “Call of Duty” would not be removed from the PlayStation if the Activision Blizzard deal was officially approved. She went on to say that Microsoft’s goal is “to bring more games to more people, not fewer.”
Microsoft made the statement after the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority calculated that the company could still make a profit by taking Call of Duty off the PlayStation. According to Microsoft, the calculation is bad, wrong and simply unfair because it would massively distort the results.
“Unfortunately, there are clear errors in the numbers used to calculate the small number of Sony customers who could switch to Xbox in Call of Duty’s absence,” Alaily said. Any “realistic model” would rather indicate that it would not make any financial sense.
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Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how long the posse surrounding Activision Blizzard, Microsoft and Sony will be with us. Perhaps one day the companies will be able to reach a contractual agreement.
Those: GameSpot
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