REACTION - Microsoft and Sony are weirdly complimenting each other via the CMA investigation

Unexpected back pat.

By Jonathan Garrett
23/11/22

Although console war discourse is entirely immature and ultimately reductive, the big players in the games industry are still in competition with each other for market share and critical acclaim. One thing that remains a curious by-product of the current CMA investigation into Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision is that both sides are essentially praising each other to justify their own arguments.

One the one hand, Microsoft have been touting Sony’s exclusive line up as a key selling point of their platform, with huge, well received franchises consistently being released. At the same time, Sony are openly acknowledging that Xbox Game Pass is out performing the recently rebranded PlayStation Plus by a sizeable margin.

In both cases, each platform holder is attempting to justify why Call of Duty is or isn’t that big of a deal by aggressively complimenting each other. It’s mental.