As part of its arguments opposing the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) attempts to block the Activision Blizzard merger, Microsoft has suggested that Sony was never really concerned about losing Call of Duty on PlayStation. The opposition filing came in response to FTC’s motion for a preliminary injunction against the acquisition, which Microsoft has said will kill the deal, if granted.
Microsoft wants Call of Duty to continue making profit from PlayStation sales
In its filing, Microsoft says that the FTC has presented no evidence to suggest that Microsoft will take CoD away from Sony’s consoles. “The FTC does not cite a single document or witness even suggesting this will happen,” Microsoft wrote. The company then mentions a statement made by PlayStation boss Jim Ryan that contradicts the theory of taking CoD away from PlayStation, but that statement has been redacted.
Microsoft suggests that it would be foolish to overlook the profit CoD makes from sales on PlayStation platforms. In fact, the revenue generated from PlayStation was included in the merger’s valuation that Microsoft says its board “relied on in approving the deal.”
Finally, Microsoft claims that taking CoD away from PlayStation would “enrage” the game’s community, and considering the popularity of its cross-platform play, the company has no reason to make the franchise exclusive to Xbox.
