Report: Xbox Feels UK CMA Has 'Significantly' Overestimated The Impact Of COD Exclusivity

Well they're from the UK. Absolutely everything over here is blown massively out of proportion.

Don't worry Team Xbox, we also feel the same way and we have nothing to do with CoD, the UK CMA or M$

It is kind of absurd that after billions of investments on exclusive games from both Xbox and Sony over the years, it is still the CoD,FIFA,Fortnite and a few others that are essentially the "oxygen supply" of the entire console gaming business.

Xbox’s reach in the uk is near nonexistent…so much so you only need to go into one of the major chains like smiths and will leave with the impression this is a dying under-supported product. So yeah, couple limited store space with a self harming desire to not market itself, I don’t see cod driving huge numbers away from PlayStation.
Can we really see THIS Xbox placing ads before big budget movies at the cinema? Placing ads on buses? Placing ads on billboards? They use gp and twitter to market their games - to people they already have.

What will be interesting is how the overall sales of cod look once MS does indeed have the marketing for it. Rather than casuals just jumping to Xbox, they might just not buy it full stop - remember, cod is the biggest selling game each and every year…Sony STILL markets the hell out of it.

It would be like saying on a billboard -

15% of people surveyed said 'We like this particular cake more than any other', with the actual number of people surveyed is in small print, while a more honest ad says 'Only 3% of people surveyed liked that particular cake, and over 50% of people polled have diabetes.'

The percentage is what's trumpeted, not the amount of people surveyed. And often that can cause really wonky numbers.

@Kaloudz Yeah I would assume both surveys are from small groups of people within those ecosystems. The percentages will then be pulled from those surveys and 'assumed' to represent the larger user base. The CMA does say 40k, the MS numbers weren't disclosed as far as I can see.

Agreed, I had every videogame machine since the atari 2600 and NEVER played a “Call of duty” Game for more than 2 hours, That “first person shooter Military propaganda kind of game” just doesn’t appeal to me. I want to think I am not the only one
BTW everyone is concentrating on COD but they never said anything about not making Diablo an exclusive… that would be funny.

Call of Duty sells in the ballpark of all the goty bait cinematic 3rd person action adventure sony exclusives combined. People on social media and video game forums like this like to downplay it because they personally dont play it. It is MASSIVE. I say this as someone who only briefly played one on xbox 360.

What does it matter if it's staying multiplat ?

@Bleachedsmiles Game Pass, diskless consoles and an overall general shift towards digital helps explain the lack of shelf space in stores they they simply won't want to buy in stock just for it to sit on shelves. The problem is the lack of shelf space does give a perception that it is less popular so casual gamers are likely to go with the option that appears more popular. 100% agree on the ads and marketing though.

@Bleachedsmiles Funny, I can visit any supermarket, Argos, any UK games store, CEX and many others to prove to myself you're absolutely utterly totally 100% wrong! In fact UK sales went up last year for Xbox. The complete opposite to the picture you are attempting to portray.

That's the problem with surveys, not everyone answers honestly. PS users realized that telling CMA they would switch is beneficial to their platform so they lied and claimed they would switch.

I always lie on surveys that ask are you satisfied because I know that if everyone says "yes I'm satisfied" then they won't make efforts to improve.

@Jenkinss Millions and millions still only buy and use games consoles to play COD, FIFA, Fortnite with their mates. The market dominates as you said over ALL of Sonys exclusive games sales combined, and that's yearly.

I think that MS couldn't care less about CoD. They are looking at capturing the mobile market with the acquisition of King and that is where the big bucks are.

@S1ayeR74 Was going to say almost exactly the same thing, I also live in the UK and there are plenty of Xbox and related items at retail outlets.
Funny how the message changes from the Sony fanboys, "I see Xbox everywhere at retail can't be selling", and "I can't see Xbox hardly anywhere at retail can't be selling"

@S1ayeR74 i go in all those stores and while yes xbox is present, but every display is smaller and a smaller choice. Argos generally has the ps5 boxes in view behind the counter, never a Series console. Playstation is far more prevelent.

Sony also advertise, Microsoft never.... except the EE ad that includes games pass, why do Microsoft not advertise the great thing it has?

Sales may have picked up last year, but down this year. ask the resident stockist @dezzy70.

so yes Microsoft has a presence, but its dropping in UK, why havent they pushed on after gaining ground? i fully agree with @bleachedsmiles.

Sony's way of selling this acquisition is that it's all 'bad news' for Microsoft to gain such a large company, but Microsoft's way is pointing out how their market share is inadequate.

Microsoft's biggest acquisitions all went cross-platform as soon as possible, which has hurt their bottom line and market share, but also shows their stance on the market.

Microsoft, at E3 in recent years, has been stellar, with very few 'Console Exclusive' announcements, but Sony has been abysmal, with excessive 'Playstation Exclusive' announcements, and some games STILL being only available on PS4 or PS5.

Sony want you to believe that this acquisition will mean that Microsoft will flip the market and send them into a downturn that they'll never recover from. Microsoft, meanwhile, are right to point out that CoD isn't what they'd use to flip the market, especially since Sony have far too much that they could flip it back with.

@S1ayeR74 ok, you go visit any store in the uk that sells video games. Take a look around. And come back and tell me that xbox doesn’t have the least presence in your chosen store.

Along the way to your chosen store tell me how many ads you see for xbox.

In fact tell me the last ad you saw for an xbox product outside of the internet. Can you even remember the last time you saw xbox promoted during the trailers for the cinema?
Can you remember the last time you saw an advert BY Microsoft promoting xbox and gamepass?

Predicting what may or may not happen in a 'hypothetical' what-if situation is absolutely ridiculous without any evidence, especially as those 'hypothetical' situations are extremely 'unlikely' in reality.

MS has been extremely clear about their intention to 'grow' the CoD Community by increasing the choice of Platforms it will be available on as well as offering more choice on how to access - not just through Purchases of Premium Hardware/Software. Also very clear that they want complete Parity on Content across all too...

Therefore any 'hypothetical' situation of CoD being 'exclusive' in the foreseeable future is completely irrelevant. I can't see PS5 gamers spending $10 a month ($120 a year) to play via 'streaming' at 1080/60 when they can buy for $70 on PS5 and get a Premium Quality 4k/120. To 'match' what the PS5 experiences they have been accustomed to, it would cost at least another $500 on a Series X, at least $70 for the Game and need Gold too of course - or need $180 a year for GPU - and no doubt would still want/need PS+ to play the games they have and/or want to play on PS5.

Reports are saying Sony had a massive February on Sales - all this whilst people know and/or expect A/B deal to go through. CoD didn't help the 360 dominate or 'compete' for the first couple of years of the XB1 gen and certainly hasn't 'hurt' Switch by not being on that platform...

Even in an 'all streaming' world - it wouldn't stop consumers from accessing on ANY device - you have Netflix, Disney+ etc on EVERY device so EVERY person can watch on devices they have. You may need to subscribe to Netflix for Witcher and Disney for Mandalorian for example, but you can still watch 'BOTH' on the 'same' device. In a Streaming world, you may need to Sub to Game Pass for CoD and PS+ for Destiny. But if 'Premium' Hardware exists, BOTH CoD & Destiny will 'release' on that hardware so People can BUY a Premium Gaming experience as some won't be 'satisfied' just to play these via a 'sub service' - the Entry tier...

I think they're significantly underestimating the advantage Microsoft will have in the subscription market , subscriptions aren't something I'm interested in but if/when the consoles cease to exist Microsoft will be the monopoly & everyone cheering for them to gobble up studios will come to regret it

@Sifi I live in a fairly small town in the UK and in both of the stores that sell games the Xbox display is significantly smaller than the Switch and PlayStation displays. The PlayStation display is also considerably smaller than the Switch display just to put things in perspective. I appreciate that in some bigger gaming stores that there may be a bigger and more even presence but certainly in some places there is a noticeable difference.

Devil advocate time:

1) just because a user does not switch their preferred platform does not mean they would not get a second console to play it, or already own a second platform.
2) I notice they conveniently don’t mention how many are believed to switch to PC
3) it’s never been about switching primary platform, or even the CoD players playing those games somewhere else, but the fact that Sony would stop seeing the massive yearly income from sales and MTX.

It’s been rumored, that Sony needs that money to finance their massive games., to the point they might be forced to downsize future projects if that revenue vanished. I guess that’s part of why they decided to pursue their PC port strategy, their development costs have gone so high they can’t justify keeping their games on a single platform.

Tangentially, the same is likely true for CoD. These games are likely some of the most expensive games to develop on such a short cycle, and it would be impossible for them to finance themselves without PlayStation, in fact, the Nintendo platform expansion might be necessary for future financial health of the IP dev cycle.

@PsBoxSwitchOwner
Absolutely slowing down console sales wise in the UK, though they did pick up in February after a very bad January.
Let’s see what March brings.
But yes the topic of advertising and momentum and public awareness, definitely doesn’t exist currently in Microsoft’s Xbox portfolio.

Hi everyone about displays and in UK shops and console space etc.
Yes since the release 2 years ago console space for Xbox in shops is getting smaller and smaller compared to PlayStation and Nintendo.
Apart from the obvious who sells the most consoles making the shop the most money.
Why do they want to sell a console that encourages a subscription service. Just look at new games sales, are 80% Playstation against 20% Xbox, that is not good for the shop at all.

Microsoft long with no advertising or general public awareness and less shop space have almost made themselves anti consumer on the purchasing front.

I’ve a feeling Microsoft would put Infinity Ward in charge of the next Halo rather than serve up another Call of Duty

Only way to entice loyal PS5 over to the Xbox is to have exclusive games. Even if it only a few percentage points it is huge. Microsoft has learned from previous errors on how important it is to shift users. You got to play the long game…

@PsBoxSwitchOwner Nope you are completely wrong, I never see a 'smaller display' or selection fact! And il die on a hill deer song that fact. What you've stated is total rubbish or based on one store.

@Bleachedsmiles I do and it's a 'fact' they do not. Xbox has just as big a presence as any other console.
And as for advertising, go and look at Sonys PS4 campaign to see how bad they are at it... the ONLY ads I see are for games and none for Sony games at that. You seem to be desperately trying to undermine Xbox I have the say.

@Would_you_kindly Always here to post the negative and troll. Enough already. Go to Push and stay there. Your comments and general attitude add nothing to the discussion. Oh, and please turn your hat straight. It doesn’t look “cool”.

@S1ayeR74 what ever brings you comfort at night.

All I can say is that the stores here 100% Xbox has the least presence out of the 3 platforms.
On the billboard, buses, bus stops, and cinemas, here I see adverts for games Sony has the marketing rights to - which has allowed them to get the mindshare of the casual market. As well as ads for their own first party games - hell, did you not see they did a WORLD WIDE promotion? Giant axe in the ground doesn’t ring a bell? All over Twitter for weeks? Didn’t see the adverts that followed that marketing?
Google ‘giant axe London’
Google ‘live from ps5’

Again, name the last ad campaign by MS you can remember seeing promoting any game…1st or 3rd party, in the real world.

Xbox themselves have been telling you how poorly they’re doing console sales. I’m not undermining them, I’m agreeing with them and pointing out obvious reasons why.

@cburg what makes you think I care about what you think is 'cool' & I'll post what I want where I want thanks if you don't like it that's a you problem & there's an easy to use ignore button 😄

@Would_you_kindly But you do think it looks cool otherwise you wouldn’t have your ridiculous avatar. No need for ignore. As long as you post ignorant and Ill informed posts on this site just to stir controversy, I will be here to correct you. You come to this site to spread your negative attitude about Microsoft and just negativity in general. Scurry along now.

@cburg captain defend a trillion $ corporation is triggered & resorts to insulting the way I dress , very not ignorant & well informed of you 🤣

It's sounds about right that the CMA have overestimated it all, it's just like parliament with plenty of political waffle, nothing gets done until a year later but it's still all tied in a birds nest.

Tbh, if you only played certain games, like COD or FIFA, you would definitely switch. But I think the average gamer probably wouldn't. It all depends on how important that particular game is to you. I know some people who play nothing but games like COD. Multiplayer focused shooter. So yeah, of course they will, especially if their friends did the same. But we could say the same for any game.

@Bleachedsmiles The marketing comes from Activision. Playstation may included it, but they aren't paying for all of the marketing, they made marketing deals so the campaigns are on playstation. I think you are blowing this way out of proportion. The marketing will remain as is (except for the lame deals with Playstation for exclusive marketing)

@Grippie 1) PlayStation don’t get their branding on every advert for cod for free - it’s part of their marketing deal.

2) If MS buys activision activison isn’t going to be a separate entity that markets call of duty without the use of Microsoft money…meaning the marketing relies on Microsoft going forward. We shall have to wait and see if cod continues to get the same level of marketing or not.

@Bleachedsmiles And I can tell you as a fact you are 100% wrong on the store space, I’ll argue it all day if you like, you are still wrong, you have selected what looks like one or two stores and decided that the entire nation and all stores are the same.. you are also wrong on console sales fact, Xbox sales increased in the UK. It was even reported on this website. Overall sales are down bit that’s the opposite of the UK market which is the one you are attempting to slander and belittle.