COLOGNE, GERMANY - AUGUST 20: Visitors wait to try out the latest version of Call of Duty Modern Warfare during the press day at the 2019 Gamescom gaming trade fair on August 20, 2019 in Cologne, Germany.
More people are buying a PS5 for the sole purpose of playing Call of Duty compared to any other Sony-exclusive game, according to a recently conducted poll.
The morality of Microsoft's planned purchase of Activision Blizzard is called into question by Call of Duty's massive and continuing success on PlayStation systems.
Influence of Call of Duty
As GameRant reported, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) commissioned this poll to gauge the depth of Microsoft's leverage on Sony's future after its purchase of Activision. This was a section of a broader study that argued against Microsoft acquiring Activision and all of its intellectual property.
About 89% of respondents who are gamers said that the availability of games was a crucial factor in their decision to buy a PS5. While 73% of those 89% said they acquired the console so they could play Call of Duty.
Because Call of Duty has always been available on several platforms, there is no compelling incentive to get a PlayStation. The PlayStation logo has accompanied every Call of Duty video released at a major event in the last several years due to Sony's long-standing marketing partnership with the game's publisher.
This, along with the fact that PlayStation players have access to special in-game content not available on any other platform, has for a long time associated Call of Duty almost exclusively with PlayStation in the minds of most gamers.
Related Story: Microsoft Plans to Launch 'Call of Duty' to Nintendo Consoles, Draws Mixed Reactions From Fans
Other Influential Games
While 73% of PS5 buyers bought it specifically for Call of Duty, 69% bought it for other exclusive titles. Numbers were also provided for sales of individual exclusive games; 41% purchased the console for God of War, 39% for The Last of Us, 37% for Marvel's Spider-Man, and 25.5% for Ghost of Tsushima.
In addition to Sony's exclusive games, 45% of gamers questioned said they bought a console so they could play Grand Theft Auto 5.
While games like Assassin's Creed and Fortnite, and the Star Wars franchise contributed to a fair amount of sales, they still were insignificant to the device's popularity among Call of Duty fans.
Microsoft-Activision Deal
If the planned Activision purchase goes through, CMA alleges it would give the combined company an unfair edge in the video game business. It will perhaps result in net losses for the industry as a whole.
It also suggests that consumers will suffer due to this shift in the market.
However, the CMA study acknowledged that the poll might overestimate the importance of Call of Duty when customers are deciding which console to buy because of the demographics of the respondents.
Moreover, there have been rumors that the Call of Duty series might be exempted from the Microsoft-Activision contract, despite a 10-year contract being offered to keep these games on Sony platforms.
Related Story: Microsoft's Bid for Activision May Harm Gamers, UK Watchdog Says
