Microsoft Says Sony's Arguments Against Call Of Duty Exclusivity Are "Not Credible"

thegamer.com:

A sticking point in the Microsoft Activision deal has been Call of Duty, with Sony and Microsoft failing to come to terms on an extended deal as fears of exclusivity mount. This came to a head during the UK's Competition and Markets Authority phase of approval, the first of which failed, the second of which is ongoing. And Microsoft has now responded to the concerns.

"The suggestion that the incumbent market leader, with clear and enduring market power, could be foreclosed by the third largest provider as a result of losing access to one title is not credible", Microsoft said in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz. "While Sony maay not welcome increased competition, it has the ability to adapt and compete."

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Microsoft didn't share any specific figures but it did claim that if every Call of Duty player switched from PlayStation to Xbox, "the PlayStation gamer base would remaain significantly larger than Xbox." It also argued that "gamers will ultimately benefit from this increased competition and choice." And while making the statement, Microsoft also repeated that it plans to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation anyway to avoid alienating the faanbase in a move that could "tarnish both the call of Duty and Xbox brands".

It claims the main drive behind the deal is to bolster Game Pass, putting Activision Blizzard titles on the service. That too has come under scrutiny as CMA is concered that the deal would favour Xbox's subscription service over PlayStation's, but Microsoft argues that this is not accurate because Game Pass is nnot available on PlayStation.

"In short, Sony is not vulnerable to a hypothetical foreclosure strategy, and the