CMA Decided COD Was That Important After Studying Other FPS Games

gameranx.com:

Sony may be losing the PR side of their console cold war with Microsoft over the Activision deal, but that doesn’t mean they don’t make some points themselves.

In Sony’s own response to the CMA provisional findings, they point something out that supporters of the deal may not want to admit.

As they state in page 2 of their response:

“The CMA also carefully considers alternatives to Call of Duty, including alternative shooter games Fortnite, Battlefield, and Apex Legends.

Based on the evidence, the CMA finds that “the extent of differentiation … of Call of Duty’s closest alternatives means that any foreclosure strategy will significantly impact PlayStation’s ability to offer more … games by contributing to a worse range and less consumer choice,” and that Call of Duty is “one of a small number of large and consistently successful game franchises available to gamers for many years.”

It’s very easy to dismiss the CMA as ignorant of the games industry, and it truly did seem that way in the first reports about their investigation. But as Sony points out, the regulator did put the work in to study what the shooter market is.

So we can’t accuse them of complete ignorance here. They know Battlefield looks the most like Call of Duty, but is not their only relevant competition. They know free-to-play live service shooters like Fortnite and Apex Legends are also part of that pie, and they probably already know that both games make significantly more income, and across different platforms.

It is convenient for Sony to not mention a few other significant shooters here. For example, Rainbow Six Siege has transformed as a major esports shooter. Grand Theft Auto V, while not strictly a shooter, definitely fits the equation as an