Sony “does not want attractive subscription services to threaten its dominance in the digital distribution market for console games”.
Microsoft and Sony have recently had a some pretty spectacular things to say in Brazil about the former’s intended acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Sony would of course like to stop this if they can and have said that it would be distorting competition if Microsoft had total control of Call of Duty.
Now Microsoft has given a response to this statement to the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE for short), offering a detail that was previously widely rumored, and also hinted at during the Apple/Epic trial. It turns out that Sony is actively paying publishers not to release some of their titles for Game Pass. Here’s the commentary (via VGC), which is very interesting for anyone who wants to know more about what’s going on behind the scenes, where Microsoft also goes hard on Sony claiming them have double standards:
“Considering that exclusivity strategies have been at the core of Sony’s strategy to strengthen its presence in the games industry, and that Sony is a leader in the distribution of digital games, Sony’s concern with possible exclusivity of Activision’s content is incoherent, to say the least.
