Microsoft claims that Sony restricts games from coming to the Xbox
Microsoft additionally asserted in its statement to the Brazilian Council of Administrations of Economic Defense (CADE) that Sony is deliberately attempting to restrict the growth of Xbox Game Pass by engaging in anti-competitive behavior with regard to Xbox Game Pass subscription services. As a result of the PlayStation’s dominant market share, Sony is a leader in the digital distribution of games, according to Microsoft. This is especially true in light of the claim that Sony has actively hampered Game Pass’s expansion by purchasing blocking rights to prevent developers from adding content to Game Pass and other subscription services that compete with it.
Microsoft asserts that Sony has paid for blocking rights for developers in order to prevent their games from being added to the Xbox Game Pass in documents submitted to the Brazilian National Competition Regulator. Whether or not these allegations are accurate, Sony has already utilized financial incentives to exclude game developers. Instead, Microsoft is making a shocking new allegation: that Sony is merely paying game creators to withhold their titles from the Xbox Game Pass, ostensibly so that they will be sold at full price in both the Sony and Microsoft ecosystems. According to Xbox’s argument to the Competition and Market Authority (CMA) of the United Kingdom, this is what may have happened if Sony had not prohibited Game Pass on the PlayStation.
Sony complained that making Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive would affect its company, but Microsoft responded that Sony is the undisputed leader in the industry and should stop whining about not taking the initiative. At the CADE conference just last week, Sony asserted that Call of Duty is a significant game and that its rivals will not be able to compete. Last week, Sony argued that Call of Duty was an essential series, while Microsoft asserted to Brazilian regulators that it was not.
MS has already told CMA that Final Fantasy VII Remake cannot be released on Xbox. This is because Sony has signed a "Xbox exclusion" agreement with some third-party publishers for several games including FF VII Remake.https://t.co/g5URqGI2HA https://t.co/jbk6hXoQej pic.twitter.com/caChLDNkrH
— Xbox News for Koreans 🇰🇷 – 네이버 Xbox 정보 카페 (@KoreaXboxnews) December 22, 2022
It has been stated that Activision’s Call of Duty is a gaming genre unto itself, which is accurate. However, it cannot be argued that Sony would lose a significant amount of money if Microsoft acquired Call of Duty entirely. Microsoft said this week that it has offered Sony a legally binding 10-year contract that makes every new installment in the series available to Sony on the day that it launches on Xbox. This is because the future of the Call of Duty series as a multiplatform product is a significant area under scrutiny from international regulators. The declaration was made in a 27-page counterargument to Sony’s previous complaints to the Brazilian Administrative Council of Economic Defense (CADE) about Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.