Microsoft Says Sony Doesn't Need To Be 'Worried' About Call Of Duty Exclusivity

Access isn't Sony's concern, it's the potential loss in revenue.

"We want people to have more access to games, not less"

Which is why Starfield is hitting PS5, right?

If MS were keeping COD off of PlayStation then they'd have a point, but they're not.
Sony's main concern is that they realise that fans paying £70 for COD on PS5 is not as attractive as having it on GP day 1. And Sony of course, rather than drum up value of their own, simply want to stop the acquisition to hold their incredibly dominant market share.
Nothing will happen as MS can simply point to Sony having had entire game modes exclusive to the PS ecosystem, proving that Sony have made their version the more attractive one for several years already.
It's just governments doing their due diligence. It would be more shocking if a buyout of this scale wasn't looked at properly from all angles.

It’s the marketing of cod Sony are worried about…not getting the game.

Look what the marketing has afforded them

• they’ve been selling consoles and psplus subs off the back of placing cod on the console packaging, placing adverts everywhere…getting the mindshare that to play cod you need PlayStation.
• the marketing has afforded them to offer exclusive betas, early access to trying the game, timed exclusive game modes, timed exclusive map packs… getting the mindshare if you want to get content first get it on PlayStation.

The worse cods are up there with the best selling PlayStation games each and every year…it will still sell better on PlayStation throughout this gen no doubt. But there’s very reasonable concerns MS having the marketing will cost sony hardware sales and psplus subscriptions.

Trouble is xbox and gamepass have pretty much zero marketing presence outside of the internet. And it’s also doubtful, by the sound of things, they’ll exploit the same perks Sonys been getting with the marketing - don’t expect Xbox gamers to get things like spec ops game modes for a year exclusivity before PlayStation gamers can play those missions.

So maybe Sony is overreacting. 🤷🏻

To all the people moaning about Starfield, shut up because it's not an established ip. I don't do console wars but a certain section of you really are hypocritical when it comes to exclusivity.

Im tired of hearing about this just want an end. Ive already made up my mind to stop playing ABK games all together

CoD is unique in the sense just having it on game pass can be just as effective as making it exclusive. According to Activision a lot of COD's loyal core fan base only play COD and their console choices reflect the "best deal" for COD and where their friends play. COD on game pass and crossplay would allow them to pull more and more players in without sacrificing profits from PS Cod sales in the short term.

This wouldn't work with a lot of IPs, single player RPGs in particular are more effective as exclusives.

Anyone else surprised Deathloop is being added to playstation plus sept 6th?

I am not convinced this game is coming to xbox anytime soon. Was this part of the original deal Sony signed?

@Ralizah This is a bit simplistic though. Sony have been the kings of big exclusive single player adventure games up until now, so Microsoft has to do something to match them on that. Hence the Bethesda deal and Starfield being exclusive. I still think that if Sony approached MS and said "ok, we'll put God of War on Xbox if you put Starfield on PlayStation", MS would take it in a second.

@Spaceman-Spiff Microsoft has every legal right to make Starfield exclusive. I just don't appreciate making games exclusive while simultaneously talking about wanting to expand access to games in the context of exclusivity concerns. It's clearly hypocritical.

And, to be clear, it's not like they need to snap up huge, established third-party publishers in order to have exclusive content, which I agree is crucial to competition and ecosystem viability. Nintendo doesn't. They commission third-parties to work on entries in dormant IPs and collaborate with others to aid their first-party workflow (sometimes both: K-T helped extensively with development of the last Fire Emblem game; they also develop ground-up musou titles based on Nintendo properties). They also dabble in timed exclusivity deals, of course, as all these companies do, but that's mostly for titles that aren't full multiplats or were designed with Switch in mind to begin with.

Anyway, my point is this: Microsoft talks one way and acts another, and I think they deserve to be called out on that.

@JON22 What does it matter that it's not an "established I.P.?" It's not even some homegrown new property under Microsoft. It was far enough along before the buy out that Sony tried to purchase exclusive access to it. It's a game that would have released on PS5, but now won't because of the acquisition.

Also, I'm curious to know if you'll move goal posts if the next Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Wolfenstein, etc. turn out to be exclusive as well. What will be the new excuse at that point?

I fully expect games like diablo and overwatch to also stay multiplatform, whilst single player one and done games will be exclusive

@LightningLeader you new here? There's countless comments over the years about sony and especially final fantasy 7 remake.

Unless you mean from higher ups from different companies etc

I think the main issue here is COD day one on Game Pass might as well be as good as exclusive as who's going to pay £70 on PS5 when you can get the game for £10.99 a month along with access to many other day one games and no doubt other COD related perks?

Unless Sony start making their games day one on PS+ Extra, they simply won't be able to compete in the subscription space, never mind the Cloud gaming aspect.

@blinx01 to casuals who don't really buy other games apart from fifa and call of duty, so for every 12 months they have to pay £120 for gamepass or pay £70 on playstation and keep it forever.

But for those who use gamepass regularly then yeah they will just get it on xbox.

@UltimateOtaku91 u are being ps biased..have you forgot they would have to pay for plus to play online ?. Add that to the cost and they would have one game and what ever plus titles yet with ultimate it's cod and a hell of a lot of games and they could also buy cod as a reduced rate ( Maybe 10/20 percent off ) and ultimate can be gotten a hell of alot cheaper by converting gold

Edit : to add to that if the casuals are new they would have to buy a ps4/5. With Xbox they don't even need the console they could play on TV/pc/phone /tablet

Yes, Sony is absolutely overreacting and is the pot calling the kettle black. With the script flipped, they’d be making every Activision Blizzard game fully exclusive to PlayStation and nobody would hold them to nearly the same scrutiny or accountability as Microsoft is being held.

Yes they are over reacting but they have to, if this deal goes through then they will be in a situation where their biggest franchise is controlled by their biggest rival. Personally I think its bassically a foregone conclusion this deal will pass just with MS making concessions to the appropriate agencies.

@UltimateOtaku91
True, but remember, they'd need PS+ to play online on PS5, so that's £50 for the year at the cheapest option, bringing the total to £120.

With Xbox and GPU, they'd also get EA Play included, so a discount on buying FIFA, 10 hours early access trial, etc all included.

Bit of a no brainer if you are COD, FIFA, Fortnite type gamer.

Sony would make Call of Duty exclusive day one if they could, why do they complain so hypocritically? They even pay for blocking third-party games on Xbox, for god's sake!

I am so sick of Sony and the Fanboys Crying about this.

Ugh, ***** off Phil. Make it exclusive.