Sony says it thinks Xbox owning Call of Duty ‘may affect users’ console choice’

Sony It is believed that Call of Duty can inspire users to switch to X-Box next MicrosoftThe proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

This is according to the company’s official response to questions from the Brazilian regulator (first spotted by RESTERA), which, like many regions, is currently studying the proposed deal for approval.

Together with other companies such as UbisoftAnd the Amazon And the The GoogleSony’s responses to many questions about the proposed acquisition have been fully publicized by the Brazilian government.

Sony’s response – read by VGC – mostly illustrates the current state of Triple-A game development for the Brazilian regulator. However, the large portions highlight the importance of a file Play Station The company is putting on Call of Duty, a franchise it claims “influences users’ console selection.”

In its answers to the survey, Sony describes Call of Duty as “an essential game: a great, AAA game that has no competitor.”

“According to a 2019 study, the ‘importance of Call of Duty for entertainment in general is indescribable,’” the company said. “It was the only video game IP brand to enter the top 10 of all entertainment brands among fans, joining strong companies Such as Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

“Call of Duty is so popular that it influences users’ choice of console, and its network of loyal users is so well established that even if a competitor had the budget to develop a similar product, it wouldn’t be able to compete with it.”

Sony went to explain how huge resources Activision Behind Call of Duty is the primary reason why it believes it is unlikely to be rivaled by the FPS series competitor.

“It takes approximately 3-5 years to develop each annual Call of Duty release. With Activision releasing one Call of Duty game per year, this equates to an annual investment of hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Approximately 1,200 people work on each edition and 1,500 more are involved in publishing and distribution. Thus, Call of Duty alone has more developers than most game companies employ across their entire development portfolio, even AAA studios.

Also, given its plans to hire an additional 2,000 developers by 2021, Activision likely expects Call of Duty to become more successful in the future.

“No other developer can devote the same level of resources and expertise to developing games. Even if they could, Call of Duty is so entrenched that no competitor — no matter how convenient — can catch up.”

Sony went on to note that Call of Duty has been the best-selling game nearly every year for the past decade and, for its genre, “is an overwhelmingly best-selling game.”

“It’s synonymous with first-person shooter games and essentially defines this category,” she said. This is also evidenced by the player’s social media post: Call of Duty has over 24 million followers Facebook for 7 million in Battlefield; And over 12 million followers on Instagram versus 2 million followers on Battlefield.”

She added, “At the very least, players are less likely to switch to alternative games, because they will lose that familiarity, those skills and even the friends they made playing the game.

Even in weaker years like 2021, Call of Duty has managed to outperform most other games by a large margin. Call of Duty: Vanguard (2021), for example, was widely seen as weaker than previous years’ titles, but it was still one of the best-selling games of 2021. In other words, even in a bad year, players remain loyal to the brand and continue to buy the game “.

in that First response to Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard Published in January, Sony said it expects Call of Duty games to remain cross-platform due to “contractual agreements”.

As the head of Microsoft’s gaming department later confirmed Intent to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms Once Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is complete.

However, it was later said that Activision Blizzard is contractually committed to releasing only The next 3 Call of Duty games for PlayStation consolesincluding this year’s Modern Warfare 2.

The Call of Duty series is one of the most popular PlayStation games on a regular basis. Last year, the series was the first (Vanguard) and the third (black cold warThe best-selling games on PlayStation in the United States, according to the NPD.