That’s according to the company’s official response to questions from the Brazilian regulator (first spotted by Resetera), which, like many regions, is currently studying the proposed deal for approval. Sony’s response – read by VGC – mainly outlines the current state of triple-A game development for the Brazilian regulator. However, large portions underline the importance the PlayStation company places on Call of Duty, a franchise it claims is “influencing users’ choice of console.”
Official Dark Water level game – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
In its responses to the questionnaire, Sony calls Call of Duty “an essential game: a blockbuster, AAA-style game that has no rival.” “According to a 2019 study, ‘The importance of Call of Duty to entertainment, in general, is indescribable,’” the company said. “The brand was the only video game IP to make the top 10 of all entertainment brands among fans, joining powerhouses 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 established that even if a competitor had the budget to develop a similar product, they couldn’t compete with it.” Sony went on to explain how Activision’s massive resources behind Call of Duty are the main reason why it believes the FPS series is unlikely to compete with a competitor. “Each annual Call of Duty release takes about 3-5 years to develop. As Activision releases one Call of Duty game per year, this equates to an annual investment of hundreds of millions of dollars,” he explained. “About 1,200 people work on each edition and another 1,500 are involved in publishing and distribution. So 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 2,000 additional developers by 2021, Activision probably expects Call of Duty to be even more successful in the future. Sony says it believes Xbox owning Call of Duty ‘could influence users’ console choice’ “No other developer can devote the same level of resources and expertise to game development. Even if they could, Call of Duty is too entrenched for any competitor – no matter how relevant – to 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 overwhelmingly the best-selling game.” “It’s synonymous with first-person shooter games and basically defines that category,” he said. “This is also evidenced by player engagement on social media: Call of Duty has over 24 million followers on Facebook compared to 7 million for Battlefield. and over 12 million followers on Instagram compared to 2 million for Battlefield.” He added: “At the very least, players would be unlikely to switch to alternative games as they would 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 games by a significant 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 stay loyal to the brand and keep buying the game.” In its first response to Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard published in January, Sony said it expected Call of Duty games to remain on multiple platforms due to “contractual agreements.” Microsoft’s gaming chief also subsequently confirmed his intention to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms once Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is complete. However, it was later claimed that Activision Blizzard is contractually bound to release only the next three Call of Duty games for PlayStation consoles, including this year’s Modern Warfare 2. The Call of Duty series is regularly among the most popular PlayStation games. Last year, the series was both the first (Vanguard) and third (Black Ops Cold War) best-selling games on PlayStation in the US, according to NPD.
