Sony is pointing to Starfield as evidence that Microsoft might not be entirely trustworthy when it comes to keeping Call of Duty multiplatform.
How much of an impact Call of Duty not being on PlayStation consoles will actually have is completely up in the air, but Sony is dead set on the idea that it will be catastrophic. Just last week Sony suggested that Microsoft could release an unoptimised version of Call of Duty on PlayStation. Now, in a statement to the UK government’s Competition and Markets Authority, Sony has used Starfield as evidence that Microsoft can’t guarantee Call of Duty will be easily available on PlayStation (thanks, GamesRadar).
In Sony’s statement, it noted how Microsoft originally said “it would not have the incentive to cease or limit making ZeniMax games available for purchase on rival consoles,” when attempting to acquire ZeniMax Media and subsequently Bethesda. This has obviously ended up not being so true, as Sony also noted that both Starfield and Elder Scrolls are also going to be Xbox console exclusives.
Starfield will obviously end up being one of the biggest games of the year, so it’s not too surprising Sony is trying to use that as a way to say Microsoft might not be so trustworthy when it comes to Call of Duty. Only problem is, Microsoft literally signed a deal with Nintendo last year guaranteeing Call of Duty games on the latter’s platforms for at least 10 years (even if not everyone is confident the games can be optimised for the hybrid Switch). Microsoft has also been trying to form a deal with Sony, but the details of that are obviously not public.
We’re still waiting to find out if Microsoft’s acquisition will actually go through or not, but a recent report claimed that the European Commission is happy for it to go ahead, providing a favourable outlook for Microsoft.
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