The hype continues around what could be the biggest gaming deal yet, the Activision Blizzard/Xbox merger. At this stage, the reached agreement is being tested by antitrust authorities from different countries, and the special rules of the Brazilian market have led to the fact that interesting details emerge into the public space. There, the relevant authorities ask about the competitors of the parties, request a comment on the topic of the transaction, which are then published. Sony also gave its comments, which, as expected, opposes the transfer of a tidbit into the hands of a direct competitor, complaining that Call Of Duty (developed by Activision) does not and cannot have competitors, even when a similar title is launched. Microsoft has responded to these concerns and even stated that it is not going to make an Xbox exclusive out of “Kolda”.

According to the company, the exclusivity of a particular product inevitably leads to certain costs, which can only be covered by a large influx of new users into the Xbox ecosystem and high sales of the game. This, combined with the lost revenue from Call of Duty on PlayStation (both the game itself and in-game purchases), makes this initiative unprofitable, at least at this stage. At the same time, Microsoft does not exclude that at some point a profit-making model will be found, as well as that some of the other Activision Blizzard areas may become unavailable for the PlayStation, but so far there are no threats to competitors.

Xbox players could benefit from having these titles on Game Pass, as Microsoft accuses Sony of paying developers to keep certain titles out of the subscription. It is likely that the final decision on Microsoft’s deal with Activision Blizzard will be made this year. Who knows what else interesting will emerge as a result of these public “comments”.

© Artur Luchkin. mobile phone

Sourced from Eurogamer.net