Sony Is Worried About Call of Duty Quality on PlayStation if Xbox Acquires the Franchise

gamerant.com:

Sony is continuing to air concerns about Xbox acquiring Activision Blizzard, namely that it will try to sabotage PlayStation versions of Call of Duty. One of the biggest gaming stories to develop over the past year is Microsoft’s surprise buyout of Activision Blizzard, a move that will bring big-name franchises like Crash Bandicoot, World of Warcraft, and Call of Duty under the ever-expanding Xbox umbrella. If it passes, this could easily be one of the biggest publisher buyouts in gaming history.

While some are excited about the possibilities of Xbox's impending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, others are concerned that Microsoft may gain a monopoly on the gaming industry after buying out so many other major third-party studios over the past few years. One of the loudest voices speaking out in opposition to the deal is Sony, with many of the rival first-party console maker’s fears being centered around the highly lucrative Call of Duty franchise. Sony has previously expressed concern that PlayStation would lose access to Call of Duty should Xbox successfully acquire it, something that Xbox representatives have repeatedly denied as the deal proceeds through international regulatory channels.

Rumor: Call of Duty 2024 Might Release To Previous Generation Consoles

Recently, Sony has aired a new concern regarding Xbox’s Activision Blizzard merger: that its competitor could actively sabotage future Call of Duty entries on PlayStation consoles. More specifically, Sony claims that said Call of Duty games could be released with game-breaking bugs and glitches that only crop up after the final level or in a later update. Given that many players tend to buy new Call of Duty games in the first few weeks of launch, these glitches