Sony Hurts Its Case Against Microsoft Part 1: No Next-Gen Console Information For Activision
from the bad-look dept
The saga of Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard continues. The two biggest remaining hurdles over which Microsoft has to jump to get the deal over the finish line at this point are in the UK with the CMA and in America with the FTC. While Microsoft appeals the CMA’s refusal to allow the deal to move forward, the FTC’s suit is just getting started. We’re just starting to see the content of depositions and hearings at this point and two pretty significant developments have come out of them, neither of them being a particularly good look for Sony.
The first of those for this post is Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan suggesting in a deposition that if the purchase of Activision is allowed, then Sony may no longer share information about future consoles with the developer out of concern of Microsoft learning PlayStation secrets.
If the sale of Activision Blizzard to Microsoft for $69 billion goes through, it could have big consequences for the future of Call of Duty on PlayStation. At least that’s what Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan keeps saying. In a new deposition for the current lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission, the PlayStation executive said the company won’t share PlayStation 6 information with Activision if it eventually becomes part of Xbox.
“We simply could not run the risk of a company that was owned by a direct competitor having access to that information,” Ryan told regulators, as reported by Stephen Totilo at Axios. The CEO also argued that in addition to Sony being unable to share “in-development console features” with Activision, the Call of Duty publisher would have less incentive to develop console-specific features for the PS5 and future devices like the PS6.
On its face, it makes some amount of sense. If Microsoft owns Activision Blizzard, then sharing any future-gen console information with the developer essentially means giving a competitor, Microsoft, insights into Sony’s secrets. Except there are a couple of things of note on this.
First, a huge part of Sony’s complaints about the purchase is that Microsoft could make major game franchises Microsoft exclusives. And this complaint is well-founded, as we just discussed the company doing exactly that with several Zenimax franchises. But… if the fear is that Microsoft makes games Microsoft exclusives, then those developers of those games wouldn’t need or want any information on the upcoming PS6, because the games wouldn’t appear on that platform. Ryan suggesting Microsoft might release a version of CoD that is sub-par on the PlayStation due to not having access to upcoming features both suggests that Sony thinks Microsoft will still release those games on PlayStations, entirely negating its reason for opposing the deal, and is a problem of Sony’s own making. It all rings as being anti-competitive, the very thing Sony is accusing Microsoft of.
And how come this doesn’t seem to be a major challenge when the roles are reversed or other consoles are brought into the equation? Nintendo inked a deal to put CoD on its consoles and this concern never came up. I don’t know if Nintendo gives anyone feature peeks for future consoles, but for whatever reason there was no problem for them. And Sony has first-party titles that appear on Microsoft platforms, so why isn’t this a problem in reverse?
Sony-owned games like Destiny 2 and MLB The Show currently ship on Xbox, and it’s unclear if Microsoft has or will face similar concerns with sharing similar info with Bungie and Sony San Diego Studio when new Xbox hardware is being developed.
There doesn’t seem to be any major problem in those cases, so why is this such a big deal when it’s Microsoft putting out first-party titles on Sony hardware?
At the end of the day, this just wasn’t a particularly good look for Sony. Anticompetitive threats issued in the very case where the major concern is anticompetitive behavior is certainly a strategy of sorts.
Filed Under: antitrust, call of duty, competition, jim ryan, merger, playstation, video games, xbox
Companies: activision blizzard, microsoft, sony
Comments on “Sony Hurts Its Case Against Microsoft Part 1: No Next-Gen Console Information For Activision”
I think that Sony is talking about the next 10 years (where Microsoft is supposed to let Activision making games also on PlayStation), so when the PS6 would be commercialised (assuming a 6-8 years between two PlayStations).
Now, since the PlayStation and Xbox now share a lot of technical aspects (like most computers), I also think the next 10 years will be more about accessories (gamepads, VR, etc.) that Sony would only commercialize on PlayStation, and since Microsoft has a wider market share with Windows (where a lot of gamers are) their devices can have way more success, et because just like VR, these devices won’t get any market share if there is not big games on it.
Again, Monopoly is only a problem when the second guy has a chance to have one.
Sony is literally saying “We lose our competitive advantage if we can’t lock up all the exclusives, please don’t let Microsoft get any!!!”
How many game publishers has Sony absorbed?
Anyone know how many game developers/publishers Sony has taken under their umbrella and turned them into Playstation-exclusive game developers?
Re:
23 development studios, though their last full videogame publisher acquisition was in 1993 I believe
This case is about microsoft wanting to start a netflix for games.
that way they get paid monthly and users spend more
way more
its not good for gamers or developers
its about paying microsoft $200+ a year for gamepass
yes the price will rise as did netflix
monopoly power
microsoft will raise gamers prices
This case is about microsoft wanting to start a netflix for games.
that way they get paid monthly and users spend more
way more
its not good for gamers or developers
its about paying microsoft $200+ a year for gamepass
yes the price will rise as did netflix
monopoly power
hardware
This isn’t just about not needing to develop the games for PS6, it’s about Sony having to release internal details of the platform such that future Xbox designers see what they’re competing with. “Oh, they’re only putting x-GB of RAM in it; so we don’t need to go as far as we thought.” Or whatever.
Basically, via Activision, Microsoft could get an inside line on the hardware they’re competing against, not just the software.
Re:
Except they already know plenty. This generation they basically put out identical hardware. And even the general public knew the specs of both companies’ machines years in advance of their announcement.
So, Sony is saying that they want Microsoft to commit to making their games available on their platform, while simultaneously saying they’ll refuse to give Microsoft the information needed to do so.
Console exclusives will be the death of consoles; this from someone who prefers consoles and has been gaming since the Atari 2600.
PCs have:
+fewer exclusives (as in exclusive to PC–not available for consoles)
+cheaper [GAME] prices
+mods
-wayyyyy more expensive hardware
As much as I hate it, digital only software is coming for the consoles. As soon as major PC makers start competing in the console space, with cheaper Gaming PCs (which consoles are becoming, basically), it’s a wrap.
:applause:
Finally a rational article on the situation.
We can argue all day about the causes.
And I don’t hide my recently turned-to hatred for Sony and the PS.
The absolute fact remains that the whole “concern” is bullshite.
The concern isn’t keeping A franchise, it’s loosing more players. Sony is long off the cliff.
gamers are fleeing the CensorStation. It’s no secret. Big stories about the changes to Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, and the one that pushed me and many thousands of gamers away permanently, the dreadful game destroying changes to Bunny Must Die. COD is no stranger to changes either. And GTA as well.
Microsoft is one of the largest cross-platform licensing companies today.
Sony has no fear of loosing titles. They’re afraid of Microsoft controlling schedules. Microsoft won’t delay a release to implement Sony’s changes in content. That means Sony releases are delayed. While Microsoft and Nintendo (and Mac?) are released together