Microsoft bought the Activision-Blizzard conglomerate in 2022 and since then there has been a battle with Sony as the protagonist which, for those of us who have been living video games practically since its creation in the 1970s, never ceases to amaze us, especially due to the intention of the Japanese to prevent something that is just what has made them the leading brand of the console industry.
Exclusive, always with the same
Exclusive games are not new to this generation and have been with us practically since day one of the existence of home systems. Pac-Man it was for Atari, as Super Mario on Nintendo machines or the Final Fantasy for many PlayStations. And you won’t even need to look at the last decade when Sony has carved its advantage over Microsoft on the basis of extraordinary sagas own that we could never dream of seeing running on an Xbox.
What merit does Sony have for having created such an important universe of exclusive games? Yes. That you have every right to have your work rewarded on your own ground, preventing any of those IPs from reaching your competition? Well, too, but from there to prosecute a purchase like Activision-Blizzard for fear of what Call of Duty become an Xbox exclusive It is turning out to be an embarrassing spectacle?
We will not go into figures and discussions about whether this acquisition is de facto a monopoly because there are opinions for all tastes, but the only certain thing is that seeing Sony complain that the Call of Duty end up being an Xbox exclusive sounds like a joke and denotes that you don’t want others to play by your same rules. He tries to muddy a field that he already owns only because -he believes- he could lose a good piece of the market pie on the horizon. Up to 30% of fans say they would jump to a Microsoft console if the exclusivity of the Activision saga was confirmed.
A Call of Duty only on Xbox, so what?
We would have to remind Sony that many of its competitors over a quarter of a century have had to stay alive despite seeing how Konami’s exclusives, such as the Pro Evolution Socceror the Final Fantasy from Square-Enix, or FromSoftware, Capcom and a long list of studios –especially Japanese– they have made their homeland around PlayStation, PS2, PS3, PSP, PS Vita, PS4 and now PS5. Obstacles that have been placed in the way of SEGA or Microsoft, and of course Nintendo, without anyone prosecuting anything and that they have avoided, almost always, having to settle for second place and worse sales.
Now, when Microsoft decides to hit the table to try to reverse the situation due to a disastrous exclusives policy, Sony jumps for the jugular with its entire legal team, looking for the opposite platform not to take over one of the most successful franchises. Trying that Xbox does not have one more exclusive of its own.
Honestly, for those of us who have been playing video games for more than 45 years, seeing Sony like this only shows one thing: that fear has settled in their offices. And that, believe it or not, is good for the video game industry.
