Sony’s list of “requirements” for Microsoft to own Call of Duty is ridiculous

Nobody is more opposed to Microsoft’s impending acquisition of Activision Blizzard than Sony, and this week it seems they may have won over UK regulators.

This led to the release of a lengthy document from the UK’s CMA regulator, including a number of salient passages that catch your eye as you read the sprawling 76-page report.

One thing that caught my eye was Sony’s cautionary tale about the “dangers” of Microsoft’s control of Call of Duty for consumers, which reads like a list of demands Microsoft must not do if they take ownership of the franchise . Among them:

• Microsoft could give additional content to the Xbox version of Call of Duty.
• Microsoft could somehow give the Xbox version of Call of Duty better performance on Xbox hardware.
• Microsoft could offer a number of attractive incentives to Call of Duty through Xbox Game Pass, be it bonus features or modes, or presumably the idea that they would offer the game itself through Game Pass, which is clearly what they plan to do.

While both Microsoft and Sony have said some very disingenuous, hypocritical things throughout this process, Sony keeps outdoing itself, and even many ardent PlayStation fans can’t really endorse that. Why? Because Sony is currently doing a lot of the things they accuse Xbox of conspiracy to do. And they do With Call of Duty! At the moment!

Due to Sony’s current deal with Activision, there’s all of them species of special perks and promotions offered exclusively to PlayStation players for Modern Warfare 2, as has been the case with other episodes in the past. Early Beta Access to PSN! An exclusive operator! Weapon Plans! A complete zombie mode set in the cold war! The point is that Sony is warning regulators that Microsoft could end up doing things they are already doing with the very series in question and have been doing for years, just because they paid enough to get that content exclusivity deal with Activision to complete. Microsoft is buying Activision, that’s going away, but I don’t know how anyone could see that as a compelling argument against the deal given Sony’s behavior.

Yes, it’s true that Microsoft has made exclusive content for many games in the past, and even with Call of Duty back in the Xbox 360 era in particular. But Sony does this while we speak with the exact series in question. Listing complaints like this for actions they themselves are currently taking is absurd, and should undercut their entire argument, although according to UK regulators it doesn’t look like it. Despite reading through the entire document, I am skeptical of how well the CMA really knows the industry, as they dismiss claims that Nintendo is succeeding without Call of Duty because it is primarily a “family-based console” which is explained, that it is not a direct competitor to Sony and Microsoft. sure ok Tell that to the 20 million 35-year-olds who will be buying the new Pokémon game this fall.

Both Microsoft and Sony have made very, very dumb, disingenuous arguments throughout this process, and the back-and-forth is getting tedious. I have trouble with Microsoft’s obviously self-serving “We’re doing this for the gamers!” rationale, but what Sony is saying here is a level of hypocrisy so blatant it’s almost ridiculous.

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