Amid Microsoft's attempts to clear its $69bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company is trying to appease regulators in the UK, US, and Europe. In its filings to the UK CMA, both Microsoft and Sony have offered plenty of information around the Xbox and PS4 platforms. In the latest info, Microsoft says Sony is permanently blocking some games appearing on Xbox.
regulators such as the CMA, European Commission, and the FTC in the United States are investigating the acquisition.
Sony's main contention to the Microsoft Activision Blizzard merger is based on restricting competition. The company believes Microsoft will use major Activision franchises like Call of Duty and make them exclusive to Xbox Game Pass and Xbox Cloud Gaming.
However, Microsoft's response to the UK CMA highlights how Sony is hardly the reference point for sharing properties. The company points out that Sony is keeping some games locked to PlayStation and unavailable on Xbox.
“In addition to having outright exclusive content, Sony has also entered into arrangements with third-party publishers which require the “exclusion” of Xbox from the set of platforms these publishers can distribute their games on. Some prominent examples of these agreements include Final Fantasy VII Remake (Square Enix), Bloodborne (From Software), the upcoming Final Fantasy XVI (Square Enix) and the recently announced Silent Hill 2 remastered (Bloober team).”
Future
It is worth noting that Microsoft has repeatedly said that it will allow Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation. The company says it makes more economic sense to keep the franchise cross-platform. To emphasize the point, Microsoft struck a 10-year deal to keep the franchise on Nintendo. A similar offer is also available to Sony.
Despite the ongoing scrutiny, Microsoft president Brad Smith said recently that the company still expects to close the Activision Blizzard deal in 2023.
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