SONY is desperate to block a $69billion (£60billion) deal which will see Xbox purchase publisher Activision Blizzard, owner of the Call of Duty series.
While there are fears that the huge purchase will give Xbox an unfair share of the gaming market, many countries have allowed the deal to move forward.
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The courts in the UK are now assessing the deal and Sony has made the claim that Xbox intends to make Call of Duty exclusive to its console after only three years.
Xbox has previously said that it has no intention of making Call of Duty an exclusive game, and will continue to sell the games across platforms.
The company even hit back at PlayStation, accusing the company of offering studios money to ban their games on Xbox Game Pass.
Activision Blizzard currently has a contract with PlayStation for the next three years.
This means that Call of Duty will be released on PlayStation for a minimum of three years, with these players getting games like Modern Warfare 2 days before Xbox owners.
As reported by the Financial Times, Microsoft president Brad Smith has continued to say that the company has no intention to sell Call of Duty on fewer platforms.
He says: “Sony, as the industry leader, says it is worried about Call of Duty, but we’ve said we are committed to making the same game available on the same day on both Xbox and PlayStation.
“We want people to have more access to games, not less.”
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However, Jim Ryan, president of Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), claims that Xbox will only keep this promise until the three year contract ends.
Ryan said to the courts: “I hadn’t intended to comment on what I understood to be a private business discussion, but I feel the need to set the record straight because Phil Spencer (CEO of Microsoft Gaming) brought this into the public forum.
“Microsoft has only offered for Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation for three years after the current agreement between Activision and Sony ends.”
He continued to call Xbox’s plans “inadequate on many levels and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers.”
He added: “We want to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality Call of Duty experience, and Microsoft’s proposal undermines this principle.”
As this is the biggest single deal the gaming industry has ever seen, it has to be passed in courts worldwide before it can go forward.
Getting permission from the UK will be another step forward for the deal.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
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