Microsoft officially responded to Sony’s opposition to its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, arguing that only Sony has concerns in this area. The Xbox maker said Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) asked Amazon, Apple, Google, Ubisoft, Riot Games and Sony about the acquisition, and only Sony raised concerns.
Microsoft added that Sony sold more than twice as many consoles as Microsoft in the previous generation, but it was trying to stifle the competition. Sony may also be wary of Xbox Game Pass subscriptions and their growing popularity. Interestingly, Microsoft also points out that as of January 2022, the service has more than 25 million subscribers, even in the case of the blockbuster Call of Duty.
Microsoft has been working hard to acquire Activision Blizzard, which has attracted a lot of attention, and not in a positive way. The European Commission, Federal Trade Commission and even regulators in Brazil are already investigating the deal.
During a hearing at Brazil’s Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE), Sony suggested that gamers may abandon their PlayStation consoles if Microsoft succeeds in acquiring Activision Blizzard. Sony suggested that the integration of Call of Duty developers into Microsoft’s Xbox could force gamers to switch from PlayStation to Xbox. However, Microsoft has now hit back at the company, claiming that Sony is primarily interested in stifling competition.
Microsoft further suggested that Sony pay other game companies “ban rights” to prevent games from making it to Xbox Game Pass. Incidentally, Microsoft has previously promised to keep Call of Duty and other “popular Activision Blizzard franchises” on PlayStation consoles. So it’s not clear why Sony is digging into this resolved issue.
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