Sony thinks it can’t compete without Call of Duty. That’s the long and short of an enormous 20-page document it’s submitted to the UK government, as it seeks a block on Microsoft’s proposed buyout of Activision Blizzard. One argument that’s been suggested is that PlayStation can just make its own first-person shooter instead, but the Japanese giant reckons the series is irreplaceable.
It’s probably a good moment to point out that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 took less than a week to make a billion dollars, so we don’t think Killzone will be posting those kind of numbers any time soon. In fact, PlayStation used the example of Battlefield to illustrate its point to regulators – and it was pretty brutal with its comments on the EA published brand.