Sony claims Xbox’s Activision deal could ‘hurt developers and lead to price rises’
Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) has claimed it’s confident that the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will seek to prohibit Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
The UK regulator recently expanded its investigation into the $68.7 billion deal due to a number of antitrust concerns, which it outlined in a statement published in mid-October.
Notably, it said it was worried about the impact the deal could have on PlayStation’s ability to compete, given that the merger would see Microsoft gain ownership of the Call of Duty series.
In a newly-published response to the CMA’s statement, Sony has expressed confidence that the regulator will conclude that the merger is likely to result in a substantial lessening of competition and should therefore be blocked.
The platform holder claims that if Microsoft were to gain sole control of Activision’s content, independent developers would all be harmed and Microsoft could increase prices for games, hardware and subscriptions.
“SIE is confident that the CMA’s Phase 2 inquiry will confirm that the transaction is likely to substantially lessen competition and should be prohibited,” it said.
Sony goes on to argue that Call of Duty is “irreplaceable” and that Microsoft’s ownership of it would tip the balance of power so heavily in its favour that, ultimately, PlayStation might be unable to compete.
“Microsoft would control irreplaceable content that drives user engagement,” it wrote. “Post-transaction, Microsoft would control Activision content that drives [redacted] times as much user engagement on PlayStation than all of SIE’s best performing first-party titles put together.”
While Microsoft recently claimed it had offered Sony a deal that would keep the Call of
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