Sony has made a new revelation that first-party games like God of War, Horizon Forbidden West, The Last of Us, and Marvel’s Spider-Man may not have existed if it wasn’t for Call of Duty. The claim came in one of the supporting documents submitted during the latest round of arguments over Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Sony’s income from Call of Duty funds games like God of War
While the exact figures were redacted in the report from the CMA phase 1 responses, spotted by Derek Strickland on Twitter, Sony claims Call of Duty players spend at least around $1 billion on PlayStation hardware, peripherals, subscriptions, games, and other PlayStation services. If these players left PS5 for Xbox, it would reduce Sony’s ability to invest in future hardware and games. More specifically, it would “reduce the potential return on producing innovative first-party games, thereby diminishing SIE’s ability and incentive to invest in new games.” In other words, games like God of War would be far more unlikely to exist without the presence of Call of Duty.
A previous survey has already revealed that more players chose PS5 for Call of Duty than they did for first-party games. The ongoing arguments have seen Sony and Microsoft meet to discuss a potential future deal, although concessions may even see Call of Duty removed from the deal altogether.
