The U.K.’s Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) doesn’t seem to think that Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard should go through because it thinks the company will inevitably make Call of Duty exclusive, forcing many gamers to abandon PlayStation for Xbox if the $68.7 billion deal were to happen, but new numbers are now suggesting that this isn’t as big of a concern as CMA has been claiming. According to a YouGov survey commissioned by Microsoft in January, only 3% of Call of Duty fans would make the switch to Xbox, a much lower number than what the CMA found with its own survey, which estimated that 15% would have switched consoles. Survey results aside, Microsoft has taken various steps to assure everyone that the Call of Duty franchise isn’t going exclusive, such as entering into a 10-year commitment with competitors that include Nintendo.
From an Axios report:
A YouGov survey commissioned by Microsoft in January found that just 3% of all PlayStation users would switch to buying an Xbox if Microsoft pulled Call of Duty from PlayStation, according to a copy of the study shared by Microsoft with Axios.
- The CMA’s own survey, conducted by DJS Research in December, estimates that 15% of avid Call of Duty PlayStation players (playing at least 10 hours or spending at least $100 on the series in the past year) would switch to Xbox.
- The CMA’s own figure for all PlayStation owners who’d leave for Xbox is redacted from the public version of its recently released provisional findings, though is cited as proof that “PlayStation is likely to lose a significant share.“
- Microsoft’s survey found that 10.5% of CoD gamers who ranked the franchise as one of their two favorites would have switched consoles.
Microsoft has repeatedly denied it would take Call of Duty away from PlayStation or offer it in an inferior state, but the CMA says evidence, including its survey, show Microsoft is incentivized to do so.