-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Shots fired!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dot Esports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DOTesports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-25T18:47:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-25T21:25:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg?resize=768,432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Ciocchetti\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AithusaHere\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DotEsports\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cecilia Ciocchetti\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cecilia Ciocchetti\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/person\/425644e8edefd860b307657c93897d4f\"},\"headline\":\"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-25T18:47:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-25T21:25:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\"},\"wordCount\":532,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"CoD\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\",\"name\":\"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-25T18:47:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-25T21:25:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"Shots fired!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Image via Call of Duty\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/\",\"name\":\"Dot Esports\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Dot Esports\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/05103313\/logo-dot_esports-mark-black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/05103313\/logo-dot_esports-mark-black.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":300,\"caption\":\"Dot Esports\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DOTesports\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/DotEsports\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dotesports\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCckaIn-3KqLYfppkj4DeTAw\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/person\/425644e8edefd860b307657c93897d4f\",\"name\":\"Cecilia Ciocchetti\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/05fa9a554644c83c05c99e3a7fdeec6e\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/05120415\/Cecilia.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/05120415\/Cecilia.png\",\"caption\":\"Cecilia Ciocchetti\"},\"description\":\"Freelance writer mainly focusing on the League of Legends and VALORANT esports scenes. Sometimes at events interviewing professionals of the scene, from players to the talented people working behind the curtains. You can reach out to me via Twitter.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/cecilia-ciocchetti-0348a4189\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/AithusaHere\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/author\/ceciliaciocchetti\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation","description":"Shots fired!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation","og_description":"Shots fired!","og_url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation","og_site_name":"Dot Esports","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DOTesports\/","article_published_time":"2022-11-25T18:47:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-25T21:25:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":432,"url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg?resize=768,432","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cecilia Ciocchetti","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AithusaHere","twitter_site":"@DotEsports","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cecilia Ciocchetti","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation"},"author":{"name":"Cecilia Ciocchetti","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/person\/425644e8edefd860b307657c93897d4f"},"headline":"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation","datePublished":"2022-11-25T18:47:54+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-25T21:25:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation"},"wordCount":532,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg","articleSection":["Business","CoD"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation","name":"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg","datePublished":"2022-11-25T18:47:54+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-25T21:25:13+00:00","description":"Shots fired!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Image via Call of Duty"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/","name":"Dot Esports","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#organization","name":"Dot Esports","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/05103313\/logo-dot_esports-mark-black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/05103313\/logo-dot_esports-mark-black.png","width":300,"height":300,"caption":"Dot Esports"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DOTesports\/","https:\/\/x.com\/DotEsports","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dotesports\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCckaIn-3KqLYfppkj4DeTAw"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/person\/425644e8edefd860b307657c93897d4f","name":"Cecilia Ciocchetti","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/05fa9a554644c83c05c99e3a7fdeec6e","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/05120415\/Cecilia.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/05120415\/Cecilia.png","caption":"Cecilia Ciocchetti"},"description":"Freelance writer mainly focusing on the League of Legends and VALORANT esports scenes. Sometimes at events interviewing professionals of the scene, from players to the talented people working behind the curtains. You can reach out to me via Twitter.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/cecilia-ciocchetti-0348a4189\/","https:\/\/x.com\/AithusaHere"],"url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/author\/ceciliaciocchetti"}]}},"raw_content":"Neither Activision nor its games are \u201cimportant enough\u201d to destabilize the gaming market in the United Kingdom, Microsoft said in a legal document publicized earlier this week. The statement came in response to an investigation by the U.K.\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which highlighted concerns about how the merger between Microsoft and Activision could affect competition in the gaming industry.\u00a0 Earlier this year, the UK\u2019s CMA started investigating the anticipated acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft Corporation. In September, the CMA said Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard may affect Sony, the company\u2019s competitor within the country.\u00a0 In Microsoft\u2019s response to the CMA, the company belies this claim by presenting Activision\u2019s data and statistics, even claiming that the company\u2019s games are not important enough to make or break their competitors on the market. The first ruling from the CMA said Activision Blizzard's transition to Microsoft might result in \u201csubstantial lessening of competition\u201d within the UK markets. However, in response to the statement, Microsoft released a thorough document that seems to disprove those claims\u2014starting with Activision\u2019s \u201climited shares\u201d and Call of Duty's minor market power.\u00a0 Activision\u2019s titles have gained popularity across the years, but millions of console gamers worldwide constitute a mere 10-20 percent of the whole market. \u201cEven focussing narrowly on the \u2018shooter\u2019 genre, Activision would not have the necessary market power to foreclose the downstream market,\" Microsoft said, adding that the genre \u201caccounts for less than a quarter of console publishing revenues.\u201d Microsoft tore the long and extensive Call of Duty franchise to shreds by using its own numbers and saying it lacked uniqueness in the gaming industry. The company named just a few examples that highlight the poor performance of the game in the gaming market, saying the franchise was \"consistently outranked\" in a series of criteria\u2014including Metacritic scores, user polls on PlayStation, and its unpopularity on social media.\u00a0 \u201cEven if Microsoft were to withdraw or degrade Call of Duty from\/on PlayStation, the Panel would have to believe that Sony would go from being the clear market leader for over two decades to being placed at \u2018such a disadvantage that [its] ability to compete is substantially limited\u2019,\u201d the document reads. \u201cThis is not plausible.\u201d But the downgrade of Call of Duty did not stop at just the game. In its document, Microsoft said most gamers on consoles do not play Call of Duty, and added that the game itself is just a small portion of the overall gaming consumption for players. Additionally, according to Microsoft, Call of Duty gamers are \u201cneither \u2018special\u2019 nor \u2018unique\u2019 in terms of either their spending or user engagement\u201d when compared to other gamers favoring other game franchises. Microsoft also said the merged entity that will be born with the acquisition of Activision \u201cwill not have significant upstream market power.\u201d The CMA will now have to review the document released by Microsoft in the second phase of its investigation. Correction Nov. 25 3:24pm CT: We've updated the date of publication of Microsoft's response. We regret the error.","apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743967"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2012"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743967"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":744082,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743967\/revisions\/744082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743967"},{"taxonomy":"invoiceable_action","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/invoiceable_action?post=743967"},{"taxonomy":"internal-label","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-label?post=743967"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=743967"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=743967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Shots fired!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dot Esports\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DOTesports\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-11-25T18:47:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-25T21:25:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg?resize=768,432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"432\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cecilia Ciocchetti\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AithusaHere\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@DotEsports\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cecilia Ciocchetti\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cecilia Ciocchetti\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/person\/425644e8edefd860b307657c93897d4f\"},\"headline\":\"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-25T18:47:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-25T21:25:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\"},\"wordCount\":532,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Business\",\"CoD\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\",\"name\":\"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-11-25T18:47:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-25T21:25:13+00:00\",\"description\":\"Shots fired!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Image via Call of Duty\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/\",\"name\":\"Dot Esports\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Dot Esports\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/05103313\/logo-dot_esports-mark-black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/05103313\/logo-dot_esports-mark-black.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":300,\"caption\":\"Dot Esports\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DOTesports\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/DotEsports\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dotesports\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCckaIn-3KqLYfppkj4DeTAw\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/person\/425644e8edefd860b307657c93897d4f\",\"name\":\"Cecilia Ciocchetti\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/05fa9a554644c83c05c99e3a7fdeec6e\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/05120415\/Cecilia.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/05120415\/Cecilia.png\",\"caption\":\"Cecilia Ciocchetti\"},\"description\":\"Freelance writer mainly focusing on the League of Legends and VALORANT esports scenes. Sometimes at events interviewing professionals of the scene, from players to the talented people working behind the curtains. You can reach out to me via Twitter.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/cecilia-ciocchetti-0348a4189\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/AithusaHere\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/author\/ceciliaciocchetti\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation","description":"Shots fired!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation","og_description":"Shots fired!","og_url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation","og_site_name":"Dot Esports","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DOTesports\/","article_published_time":"2022-11-25T18:47:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-25T21:25:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":768,"height":432,"url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg?resize=768,432","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cecilia Ciocchetti","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AithusaHere","twitter_site":"@DotEsports","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cecilia Ciocchetti","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation"},"author":{"name":"Cecilia Ciocchetti","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/person\/425644e8edefd860b307657c93897d4f"},"headline":"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation","datePublished":"2022-11-25T18:47:54+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-25T21:25:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation"},"wordCount":532,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg","articleSection":["Business","CoD"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation","name":"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg","datePublished":"2022-11-25T18:47:54+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-25T21:25:13+00:00","description":"Shots fired!","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Image via Call of Duty"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/","name":"Dot Esports","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#organization","name":"Dot Esports","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/05103313\/logo-dot_esports-mark-black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/05103313\/logo-dot_esports-mark-black.png","width":300,"height":300,"caption":"Dot Esports"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/DOTesports\/","https:\/\/x.com\/DotEsports","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dotesports\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCckaIn-3KqLYfppkj4DeTAw"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/person\/425644e8edefd860b307657c93897d4f","name":"Cecilia Ciocchetti","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/05fa9a554644c83c05c99e3a7fdeec6e","url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/05120415\/Cecilia.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/05120415\/Cecilia.png","caption":"Cecilia Ciocchetti"},"description":"Freelance writer mainly focusing on the League of Legends and VALORANT esports scenes. Sometimes at events interviewing professionals of the scene, from players to the talented people working behind the curtains. You can reach out to me via Twitter.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/cecilia-ciocchetti-0348a4189\/","https:\/\/x.com\/AithusaHere"],"url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/author\/ceciliaciocchetti"}]}},"raw_content":"Neither Activision nor its games are \u201cimportant enough\u201d to destabilize the gaming market in the United Kingdom, Microsoft said in a legal document publicized earlier this week. The statement came in response to an investigation by the U.K.\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which highlighted concerns about how the merger between Microsoft and Activision could affect competition in the gaming industry.\u00a0 Earlier this year, the UK\u2019s CMA started investigating the anticipated acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft Corporation. In September, the CMA said Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard may affect Sony, the company\u2019s competitor within the country.\u00a0 In Microsoft\u2019s response to the CMA, the company belies this claim by presenting Activision\u2019s data and statistics, even claiming that the company\u2019s games are not important enough to make or break their competitors on the market. The first ruling from the CMA said Activision Blizzard's transition to Microsoft might result in \u201csubstantial lessening of competition\u201d within the UK markets. However, in response to the statement, Microsoft released a thorough document that seems to disprove those claims\u2014starting with Activision\u2019s \u201climited shares\u201d and Call of Duty's minor market power.\u00a0 Activision\u2019s titles have gained popularity across the years, but millions of console gamers worldwide constitute a mere 10-20 percent of the whole market. \u201cEven focussing narrowly on the \u2018shooter\u2019 genre, Activision would not have the necessary market power to foreclose the downstream market,\" Microsoft said, adding that the genre \u201caccounts for less than a quarter of console publishing revenues.\u201d Microsoft tore the long and extensive Call of Duty franchise to shreds by using its own numbers and saying it lacked uniqueness in the gaming industry. The company named just a few examples that highlight the poor performance of the game in the gaming market, saying the franchise was \"consistently outranked\" in a series of criteria\u2014including Metacritic scores, user polls on PlayStation, and its unpopularity on social media.\u00a0 \u201cEven if Microsoft were to withdraw or degrade Call of Duty from\/on PlayStation, the Panel would have to believe that Sony would go from being the clear market leader for over two decades to being placed at \u2018such a disadvantage that [its] ability to compete is substantially limited\u2019,\u201d the document reads. \u201cThis is not plausible.\u201d But the downgrade of Call of Duty did not stop at just the game. In its document, Microsoft said most gamers on consoles do not play Call of Duty, and added that the game itself is just a small portion of the overall gaming consumption for players. Additionally, according to Microsoft, Call of Duty gamers are \u201cneither \u2018special\u2019 nor \u2018unique\u2019 in terms of either their spending or user engagement\u201d when compared to other gamers favoring other game franchises. Microsoft also said the merged entity that will be born with the acquisition of Activision \u201cwill not have significant upstream market power.\u201d The CMA will now have to review the document released by Microsoft in the second phase of its investigation. Correction Nov. 25 3:24pm CT: We've updated the date of publication of Microsoft's response. We regret the error.","apple_news_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/25130722\/cod.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743967"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2012"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=743967"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":744082,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/743967\/revisions\/744082"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/743968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=743967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=743967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=743967"},{"taxonomy":"invoiceable_action","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/invoiceable_action?post=743967"},{"taxonomy":"internal-label","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal-label?post=743967"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=743967"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=743967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

Rokurou

{"id":743967,"date":"2022-11-25T13:47:54","date_gmt":"2022-11-25T18:47:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/?p=743967"},"modified":"2022-11-25T16:25:13","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T21:25:13","slug":"microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/business\/news\/microsoft-trash-talks-call-of-duty-in-response-to-investigation","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft trash talks Call of Duty in response to investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neither Activision nor its games are \u201cimportant enough\u201d to destabilize the gaming market in the United Kingdom, Microsoft said in a legal document publicized earlier this week<\/a>. The statement came in response to an investigation by the U.K.\u2019s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which highlighted concerns about how the merger between Microsoft and Activision could affect competition in the gaming industry.\u00a0<\/p>

Earlier this year, the UK\u2019s CMA started investigating the anticipated acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft Corporation. In September, the CMA said Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard may affect Sony, the company\u2019s competitor within the country<\/a>. <\/p>

In Microsoft\u2019s response to the CMA, the company belies this claim by presenting Activision\u2019s data and statistics, even claiming that the company\u2019s games are not important enough to make or break their competitors on the market.<\/p>

The first ruling from the CMA said Activision Blizzard’s transition to Microsoft might result in \u201csubstantial lessening of competition\u201d within the UK markets. However, in response to the statement, Microsoft released a thorough document that seems to disprove those claims\u2014starting with Activision\u2019s \u201climited shares\u201d and Call of Duty<\/em>‘s minor market power. <\/p>

Activision\u2019s titles have gained popularity across the years, but millions of console gamers worldwide constitute a mere 10-20 percent of the whole market. \u201cEven focussing narrowly on the \u2018shooter\u2019 genre, Activision would not have the necessary market power to foreclose the downstream market,” Microsoft said, adding that the genre \u201caccounts for less than a quarter of console publishing revenues.\u201d<\/p>

Microsoft tore the long and extensive Call of Duty<\/em> franchise to shreds by using its own numbers and saying it lacked uniqueness in the gaming industry. The company named just a few examples that highlight the poor performance of the game in the gaming market, saying the franchise was “consistently outranked” in a series of criteria\u2014including Metacritic scores, user polls on PlayStation, and its unpopularity on social media. <\/p>

\u201cEven if Microsoft were to withdraw or degrade Call of Duty<\/em> from\/on PlayStation, the Panel would have to believe that Sony would go from being the clear market leader for over two decades to being placed at \u2018such a disadvantage that [its] ability to compete is substantially limited\u2019,\u201d the document reads. \u201cThis is not plausible.\u201d<\/p>

But the downgrade of Call of Duty<\/em> did not stop at just the game. In its document, Microsoft said most gamers on consoles do not play Call of Duty<\/em>, and added that the game itself is just a small portion of the overall gaming consumption for players. Additionally, according to Microsoft, Call of Duty<\/em> gamers are \u201cneither \u2018special\u2019 nor \u2018unique\u2019 in terms of either their spending or user engagement\u201d when compared to other gamers favoring other game franchises.<\/p>

Microsoft also said the merged entity that will be born with the acquisition of Activision \u201cwill not have significant upstream market power.\u201d The CMA will now have to review the document released by Microsoft in the second phase of its investigation.<\/p>

Correction Nov. 25 3:24pm CT:<\/strong> We’ve updated the date of publication of Microsoft’s response. We regret the error.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"