It seems like Sony is really laying into the proposed Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard. In the latest development over the merger, which feels like it has gone on for a decade at this point, Sony thinks that Microsoft will not keep Call of Duty‘s parity up to standard.
Unearthed as part of a document submitted to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last month per The Verge, Sony submitted theories that might make the merger less favourable for PlayStation and how Microsoft would find a devious way to obstruct the 10-year deal Microsoft offered Sony to keep the series on the platform.
“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 come 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 II attests, Call of Duty is most often purchased in just the first few weeks of release. If it became known that the game’s performance on PlayStation was worse than on Xbox, Call of Duty gamers could decide to switch to Xbox, for fear of playing their favourite game at a second-class or less competitive venue.”
Sony doesn’t outright say that it believes Microsoft would launch a buggier version on purpose for PlayStation consoles. Instead, the point Sony is seemingly trying to make is that Microsoft could potentially hurt Sony by treating any ports as lesser versions, going so far as to develop for Xbox first, then PlayStation.
Recently, Microsoft signed a 10-year agreement with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to the platform day and date alongside the Xbox version.
