Microsoft says Call of Duty isn't that important, actually

gamedeveloper.com:

In its ongoing back-and-forth with UK regulator the Competition Markets Authority (CMA), Microsoft has claimed that neither Activision nor Call of Duty have "significant market power."

The Xbox maker is currently attempting to convince the CMA, which is investigating its proposed $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, that its concerns surrounding the deal are misplaced.

There's been a lot of chatter between the two groups, but the short version is that the CMA is worried the purchase will allow Microsoft to dominate the video game market by giving it the power to make popular Activision Blizzard franchises exclusive to Xbox, placing rivals like Sony at a significant disadvantage.

In its previous rebuttals, Microsoft described the CMA's concerns as "misplaced" and said that Sony has been issuing "self-serving statements" in a bid to block the deal. Notably, Microsoft previously stated that Sony is currently the market leader in the games industry, and that it has a "clear ability to competitively respond" to the potential Activision Blizzard deal.

In another statement sent by Microsoft to the CMA on October 31, 2022 – which has only recently been published – the console maker then attempted to downplay the importance of the Call of Duty franchise itself, describing assertions by the CMA that the shooter series is of critical importance to the wider game market as "false by any objective measure."

"Activision content is popular and loved by millions of gamers worldwide. That said, neither Activision nor Call of Duty have significant market power or the status of an 'important input,'" wrote Microsoft. "All of the CMA’s theories of harm in this case are premised on one overarching concern: that Activision’s game