69% Of Players Choose PlayStation For Exclusive Games

The UKs Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been the center of the gaming world these past few days. Everyone’s attention is on the body’s newest report opposing the $69 billion Microsoft-Activision deal. Besides the disapproval of the acquisition, this deal also included a lot of metrics regarding one of the main competitors of Xbox: PlayStation.

Among these statistics, one survey from the CMA discovered that 69% of PlayStation players choose the console because of exclusive games. However, this was still lower than the number of players influenced by Call of Duty to buy a PlayStation. 73% of the users bought a PlayStation because they wanted to play the first-person shooter game.

In the CMA survey of PlayStation players, 88% said they choose Sony’s console because of the availability of 1 or more games. Of that 88%, 73% said it was Call of Duty that influenced their decision. Meanwhile, 69% said they picked PlayStation for Sony exclusives. 45% cited GTA 5

— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) February 8, 2023

Microsoft has been trying its hardest to get the acquisition of Activision and Blizzard over the line. But, it has faced a lot of roadblocks in trying to accomplish this. Arguably the most vigorous opposition to the deal has been from the UK CMA which formally opposed this deal yesterday.

Sony, Microsoft’s main competitor in gaming was a key reason for this decision by the CMA. The company thought Activision becoming part of Microsoft will give an unfair advantage to Xbox in the form of Call of Duty. It is one of the biggest franchises in the gaming world, so you can understand the concerns of the PlayStation creator.

As a result of this involvement, PlayStation was a big part of the CMA report opposing the acquisition. Both parties provided some really interesting numbers to the competition authority of the UK. This included a comparison of the global market share PlayStation and Xbox have and their monthly active users.

PlayStation lead the Microsoft console in both these metrics, but the importance of Call of Duty was prominent in the report. According to a survey conducted by the CMA itself, 73% of PlayStation players bought the console for Call of Duty. Even more surprisingly, this is more than the number of players who got a PlayStation for exclusive games.

Per the CMA survey, 69% of the players purchased the console for first-party exclusive games. Hence, more people bought the console because of Call of Duty than the long list of exclusive games. Such a stat further showcases the irreplaceable influence the franchise has on the console market.

Even though the influence of console exclusives is a bit lower, it is still very high. Almost 70% of users buying a PlayStation 5 or a PlayStation 4 for first-party games display their importance. It might be a tad less than what Call of Duty stands for, but it is still extremely high.

But, Sony’s concerns regarding the extraordinary influence of Call of Duty are proved true in this survey. You cannot replace or recreate such a juggernaut franchise that dominates every platform. A few months back, Sony said Call of Duty is irreplaceable, and we are seeing exactly why.

One other game due to which PlayStation players bought the console was Grand Theft Auto 5. The CMA survey says 45% of the players got a PlayStation because of the Rockstar title. Hence, GTA V‘s generational influence is also apparent in this metric.

We have no idea how the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard drama will come to an end. But hopefully, whatever happens, is good for the consumers. Do you think the deal will go through or falter? Tell us in the comments below.