MS Might Help Sony Sell COD On PlayStation, By Adding Haptics & Other PS Features

gameranx.com:

Microsoft has explained how Sony can still compete with them as a platform for Call of Duty after their Activision deal pulls through.

In a new document named MICROSOFT’S RESPONSE TO THE CMA’S QUESTIONS AT THE REMEDIES HEARING, Microsoft has carefully explained their overall plans for how to meet the CMA’s requirements to proceed with their purchase of Activision Blizzard King. This document also covers other aspects of the deal, but this particular clause warrants discussion by itself.

On pages 10 to 11 of the document, Microsoft explains the situation so:

“The Parties note, in particular, that there is no basis in the Provisional Findings for what would essentially amount to a “beyond parity” obligation, requiring Microsoft to develop a PlayStation version of CoD which has more features than the Xbox version. Rather, the relevant partial foreclosure mechanisms considered in the Provisional Findings, which the remedy is designed to address, relate to releasing a worse version of CoD titles on PlayStation consoles for example “with fewer features” and “degrading the graphical quality” of the PlayStation version. The concern provisionally identified is that Sony would be a “substantially less effective competitor than it would be absent the Merger”.

We had already covered Sony’s speculation that Microsoft could release worse versions of Call of Duty on PlayStation if the deal goes through. While that claim may have lost Sony some public goodwill, there’s a different aspect to the deal Microsoft offered to them, that was not redacted, and would also lead to them being a ‘substantially less effective competitor’.

That would be the fact that Microsoft is offering content and feature parity for Call of Duty across different