PlayStation made some relatively disparaging comments about EA and Battlefield in some new court documents. Since the start of 2022, there’s been a lot of hubbub about Microsoft’s intent to buy Activision for just shy of $70 billion. This would then make Xbox the owner of major franchises like Call of Duty, a series that just had the biggest entertainment opening of 2022 and made a billion dollars in a matter of days with its latest entry. The franchise has historically topped the yearly sales charts, despite releasing in the last 2 months of the year, and has made a killing for the publisher. This has led to concerns that PlayStation could lose access to Call of Duty in the future, despite Xbox reaffirming that would not be the case.
Nevertheless, due to regulations and whatnot, it has led to the platform holders trying to argue why Call of Duty is or isn’t a huge deal. Of course, Sony is trying to argue why it’s important that it doesn’t get acquired by a platform holder and has made an interesting argument about the competition. In a filing to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Sony argued that Call of Duty is one of a kind and stated that even the closest rivals like Battlefield can’t come close to touching it.
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“To give a concrete example, Electronic Arts—one of the largest third-party developers after Activision—has tried for many years to produce a rival to Call of Duty with its Battlefield series,” reads the filing. “Despite the similarities between Call of Duty and Battlefield—and despite EA’s track record in developing other successful AAA franchise (such as FIFA, Mass Effect, Need For Speed, and Star Wars: Battlefront)—the Battlefield franchise cannot keep up.”
While there’s certainly some truth to the fact that Battlefield is not putting up the numbers that Call of Duty is, Battlefield isn’t unsuccessful either. Of course, it had a rocky launch with Battlefield 2042, but it was the fifth best selling in the US in 2021. Nevertheless, it seems Sony is adamant about ensuring Call of Duty stays available to everyone.
Do you agree with Sony’s assessment? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @Cade_Onder.
[H/T The Verge]
