A Tale Of Two Consoles: Sony Doesn't Trust Microsoft To Keep Their 'Call Of Duty' Offer After Their Bethesda Acquisition

Video Games

Mar 15

Activision Blizzard logos — Image Source: Spectrumnews.com

In this world, mergers and acquisitions appear to be becoming more common, with Microsoft planning a high-profile acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Sony, for their part, appears to be blocking the acquisition, and there are several reasons as to why. Sony and Microsoft are both involved in the production of video game consoles, Microsoft in the Xbox series of consoles, and Sony with their Playstation series. If Microsoft can go through with their acquisition, many high-profile games from Activision Blizzard, such as Call of Duty and Crash Bandicoot, could be made exclusive to the Xboxes; this has happened before with ZeniMax Media. Microsoft has offered a 10-year contract to keep Call of Duty on the Playstation, but this appears to have done little to earn Sony’s trust.

Of course, antitrust concerns are also likely to be a huge factor. Activision Blizzard is a big company in its own right, and Microsoft purchasing it can be seen as monopolistic. Similar complaints were raised over the Disney-21st Century Fox merger in 2019, though Sony itself is no stranger to this; having purchased Columbia Pictures back in 1989. Whether the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard will go through or not remains to be seen.

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