Sony wants everyone and their grandparents to know that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 PS5 and PS4 versions saw the franchise’s biggest ever PlayStation Store launch. It’s a tad unusual to see the official PlayStation Twitter account celebrating a third-party game’s launch in this manner, and one can chalk it up to the marketing deal Sony has with Activision. But the timing of this one adds some ambiguity to the tweet that people were pretty quick to point out.
Modern Warfare 2 PS5, PS4 success at the heels of Sony and Microsoft’s tussle
Congratulations to @InfinityWard and @Activision on the biggest PlayStation Store launch EVER for a Call of Duty game (including preorders and day one sales).
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is now available for PS4 and PS5! pic.twitter.com/CU9GG853DI
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) October 31, 2022
Sony and Microsoft have been engaged in a war of words over the latter’s impending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which is seen as a threat to Call of Duty’s existence on PlayStation. Sony has minced no words when it comes to this, publicly expressing its concerns over Microsoft controlling the franchise, and relaying those concerns to regulators. In Europe especially, Call of Duty has become a center focus of the deal’s investigation, with regulators including the U.K.’s CMA expressing reservations over the franchise potentially becoming exclusive to Microsoft’s ecosystem.
Sony’s tweet is harmless, but given the circumstances, one can’t help but notice that it came at a perfect time.