Sony claims it ‘can’t survive’ without Call of Duty on PlayStation

Sony really is pulling out all of the stops to block the Activision and Microsoft merger, and now, it appears clear as to why. The gaming giant doesn't believe that the PlayStation can survive without full and free access to Call of Duty. 

Since Microsoft's pending acquisition of Activision went public, the PlayStation pushback has hit astronomical levels, with Sony putting its foot down on any talks of a ten-year Call of Duty deal. more recently, there were claims Jim Ryan simply wants to block the merger.

In fears of Xbox pulling its usual antic of breaking promises to gatekeep exclusive games or ask for extortionate inclusion fees, Sony has now pulled out its final play of the book and claimed to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) that it can't live without Call of Duty.

Sony cannot live without Call of Duty

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In a bit of an "I'm telling the teacher on you" manner, the PlayStation owners have claimed that "SIE [Sony Interactive Entertainment] cannot protect against the loss of Call of Duty," in a document to the CMA regarding the competitive impact the merger will have on the market.

Sony then compared the Call of Duty franchise to its own biggest first-person shooter in Destiny. "SIE's recent development experience of shooter/battle royale games is limited and its main active shooter franchise is significantly less impactful than Call of Duty.

"Destiny, SIE's main active first-person shooter franchise, had only [REDACTED] of the gameplay hours and [REDACTED] of the game spend of Call of Duty in 2021."

Sony claims it'd be 'close to impossible' to replace Call of Duty 

Its clear that Sony believes that it'll be priced out of a deal for Call of Duty with Microsoft, similar to what happened with Bethesda games in the past, despite the Xbox owners promising the CMA that a reasonable deal would be offed (something that it was later fined billions for). 

So, with a gap in the market, Sony has also explained that it would be "close to impossible" to replace Call of Duty. "While there may be a wide range of studios that may help SIE produce hit titles, producing one as durable and successful as Call of Duty would be close to impossible," Sony said.

Sony also has little faith in the new and upcoming titles such as Deadrop, THE FINALS, xDefiant, and Project X, asit reiterated the CMA's previous comments that "new titles have 'a low chance of success'." The console wars are getting more violet, and rest assured, there will be blood.