Battlefield "Cannot Keep Up" With Call Of Duty, Sony Claims

The company has dragged Battlefield into its fight to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation saying that EA's shooter franchise is an example of the fact that no other product can be a competitor to Activision's successful series.

On November 23, the UK's competition regulator CMA published several previously private documents which are part of the watchdog's investigation into Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The documents, among others, include Sony's response to the CMA's issues statement released in October which outlines the regulator's initial theories on how the Microsoft/Activision merger might affect competition in the market.

Sony has previously repeatedly tried to assure both the gaming community and regulators that Microsoft's control of Activision's games will ultimately affect gamers as well as the gaming industry as a whole in a negative way offering various arguments, basically saying almost anything to try to make the acquisition as difficult as possible for Microsoft.

In a new filing, the company once again expressed its concern that the deal could "harm competition, industry participants, innovation, and consumers" mostly focusing on the Call of Duty franchise which it believes Microsoft will make exclusive to Xbox consoles.

Earlier, Sony already claimed that Call of Duty has achieved such a level of success that no other product can be a competitor to Activision's shooter series. And now, as reported by PC Gamer, to prove this, the company brought up the Battlefield series, which can be considered Call of Duty's biggest rival, claiming that EA's shooter franchise can't keep up with Call of Duty.

Sony said that EA has "tried for many years" to actually make Battlefield a rival to Call of Duty but has never even come close to succeeding.

"Call of Duty is too entrenched for any rival, no matter how well equipped, to catch up," Sony said. "Other publishers do not have the resources or expertise to match its success. 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."

"Despite the similarities between Call of Duty and Battlefield – and despite EA’s track record in developing other successful AAA franchises (such as FIFA, Mass Effect, Need for Speed, and Star Wars: Battlefront) – the Battlefield franchise cannot keep up," the company continued. "As of August 2021, more than 400 million Call of Duty games has been sold, while Battlefield has sold just 88.7 million copies."

However, one person likely to disagree with Sony on this matter is EA CEO Andrew Wilson who said in September that he sees the Microsoft deal which will probably make Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive as a "tremendous opportunity."

You can find Sony's response to the CMA here. Also, don't forget to join our Reddit page and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more. 

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    Anonymous user

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