Sony Says Microsoft Could Sabotage Call of Duty on PlayStation with Late-Game or Post-Launch Bugs

gamingbolt.com:

Microsoft and Sony have been locking horns over the former’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard for several months now, with how Call of Duty will be handled in the future being a sticking point not only for regulators, but also for Sony. Though Microsoft has stressed that it has no intentions to make the franchise exclusive to Xbox – having also signed binding agreements to bring it to Nintendo and Nvidia platforms for the next 10 years, with a similar deal also on the table for PlayStation – Sony is now raising concerns over how Microsoft could undermine the series on PlayStation in order to direct audiences to purchasing it on Xbox.

As shared by The Verge’s Tom Warren on Twitter, in its arguments submitted to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Sony has said that in spite of Call of Duty’s potential day and date multiplatform releases, Microsoft could still sabotage the franchise on PlayStation platforms through late-game or post-launch bugs that would cause the audience to “lose confidence” in the platform and be compelled to switch to Xbox instead.

“Swiftly detecting any diversions from, and ensuring compliance with, a commitment as to technical or graphical quality would be challenging,” Sony’s argument reads. “For example, Microsoft might release a PlayStation version of Call of Duty where bugs and errors emerge only on the game’s final level or after later updates. Even if such degradations could be swiftly detected, any remedy would likely be too late, by which time the gaming community would have lost confidence in PlayStation as a go-to venue to play Call of Duty. Indeed, as Modern Warfare 2 attests, Call of Duty is most often purchased in just the first few weeks of release. If it