Sony Is Worried Xbox Will "Leapfrog" PlayStation After Activision Blizzard Acquisition
It's pretty clear that Sony wasn't a huge fan of Microsoft managing to get its $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard over the line. You don't go through the trials and tribulations of a court case if you're fine with something happening, but Sony hasn't been too clear on just how much it thinks the acquisition will affect its own business. Turns out, it's actually worried quite a bit.
Insomniac Games suffered a catastrophic leak earlier today, which revealed key bits of information regarding potential plans for the future. Not only did the leak reveal every single game Insomniac plans to release up until 2032, but it also revealed several presentation slides detailing Sony's current worries regarding Microsoft and Activision (thanks IGN), as it thinks Xbox could now potentially "leapfrog our current pillars".
Sony appears to be primarily worried about how Activision Blizzard strengthens Microsoft in key departments, as it now has extremely successful live service titles such as Call of Duty and Diablo, a strong mobile platform in Candy Crush developer King, and the ability to create its own mobile store along the lines of Google Play and the Apple Store.
On the console front, Sony is worried most about Call of Duty, describing the title as a "threat" that will need to be dealt with in 2027. A deal was signed with Microsoft in July earlier this year to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, which we now know apparently expires in around four years. PlayStation is worried that once this deal does expire, Microsoft will pose a "massive" to PlayStation Plus subscriptions, as will "day and date" additions to Xbox Game Pass.
The slides have also revealed that Sony makes $1.5 billion in annual revenue from PlayStation Plus
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