Start by saying, “What is Call of Duty anyway?” This is a military simulation based on military experience throughout history. Nothing is unique as an idea. For example, if Sony wanted to make a military-based game, they’d have a movie studio and a library of TV shows, all of which were inspired by – what they just did with The Last of Us. As you can see, this fantastic new show on HBO is over. But they created this program from scratch based on a video game. So there is huge competition. When regulators start to figure it out, they’re actually going to look at this deal differently.”
“I think what we’re seeing now is regulators with very little experience in our industry,” Kotik said. “Many consolidations are likely to occur over time. The industry is highly fragmented, with Japanese and Chinese companies being the dominant players today. I think when they start learning about the industry, they realize it’s a baseless concern.
This isn’t the first time The Last of Us’s success has been brought into debate over a deal between Microsoft and Activision. Gaming, TV, Movies, Music,” proving that it “works fine without FTC protection.”
My first impression was that Meservey’s tweet seemed to genuinely deviate from Microsoft’s official position.
However, Kotick elaborated on this point in an interview, hinting that Sony isn’t as concerned as he publicly portrays the future of CoD.
“Sony doesn’t talk to us on the phone. In fact, they don’t answer our calls,” Kotik said. “And one of the things that surprises us is that this is usually the time when we are talking about the future and new partnership opportunities and they didn’t return our calls. I don’t know if it’s worth as much as we’ve shown to regulators.”
After reiterating that Microsoft and Activision Blizzard’s business model is to put software “on any microprocessor with a display,” Kotick returned to The Last of Us to find out which companies regulators should be concerned about. is Sony and Microsoft has hinted that it should be in the bag. Activision Blizzard is just for a chance to compete.