Sony and Microsoft Clash Over Activision Takeover
Over the last few years, its become more and more common to see even the biggest of studios getting snatched up by Microsoft or Sony in their race to have the next great console-selling exclusive. However, one recent proposed take-over has Sony all riled up. Earlier this week, Microsoft established its interest in purchasing the massive studio- which has made games ranging from Skylanders to Overwatch. Typically, this would not be a cause for concern, especially considering Sony’s aggressive approach to developer acquisition since the launch of Playstation Studios last year. The main issue raised in this particular case is one of fairness. The biggest issue is with Activision’s biggest money maker: Call of Duty.
Speaking on the franchise, Sony stated:
Call of Duty has been the top-selling game for nearly every year over the past decade, and for its genre, it's overwhelmingly the best-selling game. It's synonymous with first-person shooters and essentially defines that category.
It is true that Call of Duty continues to sell tremendously well, despite the somewhat disappointing sales performance of last year’s Vanguard. This trend is sure to continue with 2022’ Modern Warfare II, which will be a big draw for fans of the original from 2009. Due to these sales numbers, Sony has become rattled with what this could mean for console sales. With the constant success of the franchise, executives believe that it could cause a great migration of players from Playstation to Xbox and could act as a console seller that dissuades many gamers from buying the shiny new PS5. While I wouldn’t go that far, it is hard to understate the success of Call of Duty in the videogames industry. With Call of Duty’s potential departure from Playstation and PC after this year’s entry, a substantial amount of players likely will follow. Of course, not as much as when the FPS was in its heyday, but still enough to throw doubt on the fairness of the acquisition.
Microsoft were not ones to leave such an accusation unchecked, however, as they responded with a frankly astonishing (and somewhat hilarious) stance on the matter. Their official announcement was that Activision Blizzard simply doesn’t make ‘must-have games’, meaning their acquisition at the hands of Xbox is entirely fair. They don't sound enthusiastic for a company that just spent $68.7 billion on one studio (bearing in mind that Microsoft’s second biggest grab was Bethesda for £7.5 billion in 2021). Of course, it’s worth mentioning that this may just be the brand covering for itself and attempting to dissuade regulators from preventing the deal from going through. However, it's still a bold claim to put out there. Announcing that there is absolutely zero level of uniqueness to any Activision games is not only harsh (although arguably truthful to an extent) but also seems like bad business. Normally, you’d see a company gush about the new studio they acquired, just like last year with Bethesda. This time, however, Microsoft is playing the role of an uncaring parent.
The full quote by Microsoft, as found by Rock Paper Shotgun, is as follows:
Specifically, with respect to Activision Blizzard video games, there is nothing unique about the video games developed and published by Activision Blizzard that is a “must have” for rival PC and console video game distributors that could give rise to a foreclosure concern.
While it could certainly be argued that this is a valid stance, with Call of Duty not being the most original of first-person shooters, it seems more bizarre considering Microsoft’s investment into this studio. It remains to be seen what will come of Sony’s accusations, and if Regulators will step in to prevent the purchase, or limit it in some way, such as forcing the Call of Duty franchise to remain multi-platform. However, given how talks over the last few weeks have been going, this seems unlikely. It seems that Activision-Blizzard’s games (in all their apparent unoriginal glory) are soon going to find themselves a permanent new home on the Xbox family of consoles.
