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The case of the acquisition of Activision Blizzard King by Microsoft continues to give a lot to talk about, as the CMA is still studying all possible scenarios to finally give its final verdict. One of the latest alerts from the CMA was the case of removing CoD from PlayStation, leading many supposed users to buy an Xbox console. However, Xbox reaffirms that removing Call of Duty from PlayStation does not make sense due to previous studies.
multiple times Xbox has ruled out the option to “snatch” Call of Duty from other platforms, since his plan has always been to expand. We can be clear about this when learning about the recent contracts with Nvidia and Nintendo that agreed to bring Xbox games to the Nvidia GeForce service, while with Nintendo it was agreed to bring all Call of Duty games from now until the next 10 years after the closing of the Activision purchase. Similar deals were offered to Sony PlayStation, however, they refused any kind of negotiation.
Xbox reaffirms that removing Call of Duty from PlayStation does not make sense, since there are very few users who would change the ecosystem for this IP
The CMA began its option to acquire Activision Blizzard King in early 2022, leading Xbox and Microsoft to present their future plans regarding the purchase in order to prevent a market monopoly. One of the latest objections has been the transfer of users to Xbox in the case of making Call of Duty exclusive to this platform. However, Vice President of the Competition Law Group, Alaily rhymehas firmly stated that removing Call of Duty from PlayStation “it doesn’t make business sense«.
UK regulator believes that if Call of Duty were exclusive to Xbox, many players would abandon PlayStation
we are xbox.com
Alaily’s statements are based on a recent study by British market analysis firm YouGov in January 2023, which found that only 3% of all PlayStation users intend to buy an Xbox console in case the Call of Duty series leaves the Sony ecosystem. If we take this into account and Sony’s position in the market, we can conclude that the PlayStation user base would not leave the ecosystem for a single intellectual property.