Sony believes that the example of Redfall is the best confirmation of Microsoft’s strategy to make the Call of Duty brand exclusive and informed British officials.
“Just last week, on March 22, two days prior to the publication of the Addendum, the IGN news service published fresh evidence in the form of an interview with Redfall creative director Harvey Smith, which provides additional insight into Microsoft’s strategy. Like Call of Duty, Redfall is a first-person shooter featuring single-player and cooperative multiplayer. Speaking with IGN, Harvey Smith explained that Redfall was originally planned to release on all platforms, including PlayStation, but when Microsoft acquired Bethesda, ‘huge changes’ took place. Microsoft said: ‘No PlayStation 5, now we are releasing it for Game Pass, Xbox, and PC.’”
According to Sony, the creative director of Redfall provided “compelling evidence of Microsoft’s ability and incentive to foreclose acquired games from rivals,” and confirmed “likely post-merger behavior with respect to Call of Duty.”
It seems Harvey Smith has supplied Sony with ammunition that will be used by the corporation in any possible future scenario and with regulators in other countries.