Despite all of Sony’s refusals and attempts to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, the pro-competitive offers don’t budge. Xbox’s attempts to show that they aren’t looking to monopolize the industry have gotten to the point where they offer games like Call of Duty so they can be freely accessed on PlayStation subscription services.
According to reports from Bloomberg, Microsoft would have offered Sony the ability to put Call of Duty on the PlayStation Plus subscription service. This is part of the initial offer to keep the franchise for 10 years on all platforms that compete with Xbox, something that Sony has apparently rejected, stating that this model only favors Microsoft. Now, before the new proposal, we must wait for a response from Sony, which seems to be the same refusal as always.
Microsoft competes against regulators by giving away its games to Sony
As we well know, both the FTC and the CMA, trade regulators, have been blocking the deal over fair competition concerns in the video game industry. Because of this, Microsoft tries to show that its attempts are not to create a monopoly, so it offers its direct competition great deals. With all this on the table, it seems that a false move by Sony, such as accepting these offers, as this would demonstrate that the competition with Xbox can converge.
The great opponent of the agreement has been Sony, so Microsoft tries to seduce its competition to proceed with the purchase. In the meantime, Phil Spencer has secured that these attempts by Jim Ryan are just an unfair way of handling deals, as they have raised no real objections.
The world’s largest console maker files an objection over the one franchise we’ve said will continue to ship on the platform. It is a deal that benefits customers through choice and access
The deal for more than $69 billion to buy Activision is in the process of being approved by European regulators. While that happens, it looks like another regulator will try to block the purchase, but nothing official has been done so far.