The document provided by sony to the British body responsible for regulating the markets is a real gold mine. There are very surprising statements from the manufacturer, which reveal how much Sony feels threatened by the takeover of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft, and who is therefore ready to use all possible arguments to derail it. We come back here to two statements that will no doubt cause a lot of ink to flow, starting with Sony’s “fear” of Xbox raising prices.
Audacity, nerve, all that…
Let’s first go back to Sony’s cheekiest argument (it has to be said), which expresses above all his confidence that the CMA (the British body) will block the deal. In the middle of this affair, call of duty is the main lever for Sony, which states that with this license, Microsoft would be in a position to significantly weaken the competition.
The manufacturer again argues that call of duty is irreplaceable, and that if Microsoft is in a position to control this license, the company could deprive its competitors of such a behemoth. By doing this, medium term, ” a large number of PlayStation users would surely switch to Xbox or subscribe to Xbox Game Pass ».
Then comes this lunar statement from Sony, which claims that such a thing could harm consumers and developers, since it would lead to price increases:
” Faced with weaker competition, Microsoft would be able to increase the prices of consoles and games for Xbox users (including those coming from PlayStation) and increase the price of Game Pass, as well as reduce innovation and quality. »
You will note all the irony of this passage when we know that Sony is the only manufacturer to have increased the price of its consoles and its games in recent months. This one had to be dared.
PlayStation, next Nintendo?
During the 22 pages that make up this document, Sony stubbornly reminds us that the control of call of duty is a real problem. Microsoft had defended itself from the character ” irreplaceable of the license, by demonstrating that Nintendo did not need it, for example.
Sony responds to this today, by first declaring that Nintendo’s strategy is very different from that of PlayStation and Xbox, since it does not position itself on the niche of shooters reserved for people over 18 years old. A very lucrative market, where call of duty is indeed king.
Sony therefore reverses this argument by indicating that the real strategy with this acquisition is to ensure that PlayStation cannot compete in this market, and thus be a less direct competitor for Xbox, like Nintendo :
” Microsoft says Nintendo’s differentiated model demonstrates that PlayStation doesn’t need Call of Duty to compete effectively. But this reveals Microsoft’s true strategy. Microsoft wants PlayStation to become like Nintendo, so that it’s a less close and less effective competitor to Xbox. After the deal, Xbox would become the single platform for all of the top-selling console shooter franchises (Call of Duty, Halo, Gears of War, +Doom, Overwatch). »
The fact that Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0 make real cards will certainly reinforce the argument put in place by Sony. And with the FTC which could reinforce its fears via the possible filing of a complaint, Microsoft is undoubtedly preparing to take out the oars.