Sony’s CMA Complaint Outlines Ways That Microsoft Could Screw Them Over

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It’s no secret that Sony has been completely against Microsoft’s acquisitions of Activision Blizzard since the merger was first announced UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.

In an effort to appease Sony and the agencies looking into the deal, Microsoft offered Sony and other console developers 10-year licensing deals for the Call of Duty franchise, which has been at the heart of antitrust concerns due to its immense popularity.

While Nvidia have decided to take Microsoft up on its offer, Sony adamantly refuses to touch the deal with a ten-foot pole. The company is apparently desperate enough that it’s conjured up hypothetical ways that Microsoft might screw them over should they accept the deal.

In the complaint that Sony filed with the UK’s Competition and Market in February, the company outlined possible ways that Microsoft could circumvent the licensing agreement, which included releasing a bug-filled version for the PlayStation to drive players to Xbox.

“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,” reads the redacted complaint. “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.”

“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 favorite game at a second-class or less competitive venue.”

Sony also said that Microsoft could further incentivize players to choose the Xbox version of the franchise by prioritizing development and pouring more resources into it while leaving inexperienced developers to work on the PlayStation version and ignoring PlayStation-specific features such as the DualSense controller’s haptic triggers.

Microsoft responded to the complaints with a statement that promises parity between the Xbox and PlayStation versions of Call of Duty and maintained its commitment to keep the iconic franchise available to as many players as possible across multiple platforms.

Meanwhile, Activision Blizzard’s Chief Communication Officer and Executive VP of Corporate Affairs Lulu Cheng Meservey recently called out Sony’s President and CEO Jim Ryan on Twitter over his refusal to get on board and sign the proposed 10-year licensing agreement.

“Microsoft offered Sony (the dominant console leader for well over a decade, with 80% market share) a 10 year agreement on far better than Sony would ever get from us,” tweeted Meservey. “We’ve also offered Sony guaranteed long-term access to Call of Duty. But they keep refusing. Why? The CEO of SIE answered that question in Brussels. In his words: ‘I don’t want a new Call of Duty deal. I just want to block your merger.’”

Sony has neither confirmed nor denied the alleged statement from their CEO.