Will Microsoft Really Destroy Call of Duty for PlayStation as Claimed by Sony?

Microsoft’s efforts to acquire Call of Duty publisher Activision are not slowing down. In fact, they have increased even more in the last few weeks. Not to mention that the ongoing situation has seemingly sent PlayStation giant Sony into a panic mode. That’s because recently, its CEO mentioned that the implications of the $68.7 billion deal could be huge than what everyone’s assuming. Especially when it comes to the company’s own console line-up. How?

In case anyone missed keeping track of events, Sony recently shared a document with the UK regulator CMA (Competition and Markets Authority). As expected, the doc contained the concerns it has regarding the Microsoft-Activision deal. However, this time, it also tried to mention how PlayStation will be affected, in a catastrophic manner, if Call of Duty goes under the roof of the Xbox maker.

Will Microsoft actually ruin the Call of Duty experience for PlayStation consoles?

Sony has tried to convey, to the UK regulator, that upon getting the COD franchise, Microsoft could make the experience of playing Call of Duty titles on PS consoles poor. And it could do that by raising the price of future entries or making them available on Xbox Game Pass only.

However, the most crucial point to be noted from Sony’s document is that it also claimed Call of Duty will become unplayable on PlayStation if Microsoft decides to do so. That it could be done by gradually reducing the overall quality and performance of the games on the consoles.

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Here’s an excerpt from the document itself where Sony has presented a hypothetical situation of how MS may ruin Call of Duty on PlayStation:

“Microsoft might release a PlayStation version of Call of Duty where bugs and errors emerge only on the game’s final level or after later updates. Even if such degradations could be swiftly detected, any remedy would likely come too late, by which time the gaming community would have lost confidence in PlayStation as a go-to venue to play Call of Duty.”

All things considered, Sony is almost certain that COD won’t remain what it is now if Xbox merges with Activision. Recently, the EVP of Activision revealed how badly SIE’s CEO Jim Ryan wants the $68.7 billion deal to get blocked.

Per the exec herself, Jim Ryan is not interested in any offer from Microsoft for Call of Duty. He simply wants to block the merger at any cost. So it makes sense why Sony believes COD will be destroyed by the Xbox maker on the PlayStation. But is it going to be the actual scenario?

Will COD titles go buggy on PlayStation?

Going by what Xbox boss Phil Spencer and Brad Smith (President, Microsoft) have emphasized so far, they want to make Call of Duty available on all platforms. Plus, they have tried to assure everyone that the future titles will deliver amazing experiences on all the supported devices.

But again, this situation involves a billion-dollar franchise like COD. Hence, nothing can be confirmed just yet. Microsoft has made huge promises so far. It will be interesting to see if it will deliver on them or not. And that’s when it will succeed in acquiring Activision Blizzard. Until then, one can only keep speculating about various kinds of probabilities. CMA’s decision on the proposed acquisition will be revealed on April 25.

What are your thoughts on the current circumstances? Also, do you think Sony will be able to block the massive acquisition? Let us know in the comments.

Source: The Verge

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