While it would hurt the games industry in the long run by taking on Activision Blizzard King, the Redmond-based tech firm has made a clever suggestion to Sony.

We’ve already written about the documents from the UK’s market and competition watchdog, the CMA, which have been submitted by Sony and Microsoft. Both companies claim to be small (Sony has 47.3 million PlayStation Plus subscribers, while Xbox Game Pass has 29 million users), but there is a significant difference between the two companies’ subscription services that could tip the scales in one direction or the other, with Sony claiming that if Call of Duty were to leave PlayStation (the current offer is for ten years, but Microsoft could break the deal at any time…), their services would suffer. The entire video game economy would be hurt, too.

Microsoft responded: “Further, even if Microsoft succeeds in growing Game Pass with the addition of Call of Duty, the CMA would have to satisfy itself that Sony could not respond through investments or improvements in its service. Sony has a range of options to maintain or improve the competitive position of PlayStation Plus. At a minimum, Sony could include additional first- and third-party releases in PlayStation Plus on the ‘day and date’ release. Sony’s first-party exclusives not currently included in PlayStation Plus include prominent titles such as The Last of Us, God of War, Spiderman, and the Final Fantasy VII Remake. The inclusion of such titles would be beneficial for gamers.”

Clever, and it has a point, but in the meantime, let’s not forget that Sony recently announced that God of War: Ragnarök has become their fastest-selling exclusive, with 5.1 million sales in three days, a figure that would be significantly lower if Sony followed Microsoft’s lead and immediately included all their PS5 exclusives in PlayStation Plus Extra or Premium…

Source: VG247