Sony dunks on Battlefield series in Microsoft Activision merger bid

Sony has dunked on EA’s Battlefield series in its arguments against Microsoft’s buyout of Activision Blizzard.

In documents released as part of the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority review into the potential merger, Sony argues that Call of Duty “is not replicable” and that other games cannot compete with its success.

It then calls out the Battlefield series as a major rival, but says the franchise “cannot keep up”.

“Call of Duty is too entrenched for any rival, no matter how well equipped, to catch up,” reads Sony’s statement.

“It has been the top-selling game for almost every year in the last decade and, in the first-person shooter genre, it is overwhelmingly the top-selling game. Other publishers do not have the resources or expertise to match its success.

“To give a concrete example, Electronic Arts – one of the largest third-party developers after Activision – has tried for many years to produce a rival to Call of Duty with its Battlefield series.

“Despite the similarities between Call of Duty and Battlefield… the Battlefield franchise cannot keep up.”

It’s fair to say that Battlefield is the biggest rival to Call of Duty, but the most recent game in the series has not been well received by fans.

Battlefield 2042’s third season offers some radical improvements, but the game suffered a disastrous launch.

Sony’s view on Battlefield isn’t the only eye-opening comment to come out of the recently released documents.

To counter Sony, Microsoft has had to downplay the importance of the Call of Duty franchise in its own statement – and promote the dominance of Sony across the industry.

For instance, Microsoft stated that Call of Duty is consistently outranked in user polls and industry reviews compared to Sony’s output, and that Call of Duty “does not drive social media conversations”.

Moreover, Microsoft admitted that Sony has more exclusive games “many of which are better quality” than its own.

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