Microsoft allows Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years
Microsoft and Sony have a binder agreement over Call of Duty games to be played on Sony PlayStation for next 10 years! Amid Activision Blizzard deal.
After a long battle to win Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has finally fully acquired it. This presumed a danger for Sony PlayStation that all the hit games like Call of Duty, Overwatch, World of Warcraft, etc., will become Xbox exclusive. But now this threat has taken to rest just for 10 years to come. Microsoft and Sony have a binder agreement over Call of Duty games to be played on Sony PlayStation. Let’s discuss this a little earlier.
Call of Duty X Sony PlayStation: the focal point of the mess
U.S. court has approved Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of the game company Activision Blizzard. This acquisition has also become the largest acquisition in the game’s history. A major regulatory headwind for Microsoft was cleared on Friday when a U.S. appeals court rejected an appeal by the Federal Trade Commission to halt the deal. The judge approved Microsoft’s claim that it would not withdraw the “Call of Duty” series of games from rival Sony’s PlayStation, which would not lead to an industry monopoly. Recently, Microsoft and Sony officially signed an agreement on the “Call of Duty” series of games.
Microsoft’s move is mainly to address the concerns of some national regulators about the acquisition of Activision Blizzard: Microsoft may provide more of Activision Blizzard’s game content exclusively to its own Xbox game console players in the future, harming the interests of competitors.
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard has become the largest merger in the game industry in history. This transaction has encountered anti-monopoly resistance from regulatory authorities in many countries, and it is believed that Microsoft may monopolize Activision Blizzard’s game content.
In addition to Microsoft and Sony, Japan’s Nintendo is another important game console manufacturer. Last year, Microsoft and Nintendo signed a ten-year agreement to ensure that Nintendo users can continue to use the “Call of Duty” game in the future.
According to the Associated Press report on July 17, Microsoft signed an agreement with Sony to continue launching the “Call of Duty” video games on the PlayStation console after Microsoft acquired the game maker Activision Blizzard. Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s Xbox division, tweeted the news on the 16th, “We look forward to a future where gamers around the world have more choices to play the games they love.”
The “Call of Duty” series of games has been a contention between Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation, as Microsoft plans to acquire Activision Blizzard, maker of the best-selling “Call of Duty” series. While waiting for global regulators to approve the deal, Microsoft has reached a 10-year licensing agreement with Nintendo, Sony, and some gaming platforms for Activision Blizzard’s games, such as “Call of Duty.”
Microsoft’s gaming executive Phil Spencer comment on the deal
On Sunday, Microsoft’s gaming executive Phil Spencer announced on Twitter that he was pleased to sign a binding agreement with Sony’s P.S. gaming division after Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard. The “Call of Duty” game is still available on the P.S. game console.
We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and @PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) July 16, 2023
Microsoft has been seeking regulatory approval for the acquisition in the United States and other countries for the past few months. However, Sony has opposed it, fears that it will lose an “essential” game, Call of Duty, due to the acquisition. “. Testifying before the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) about the legal wrangling over the acquisition, Sony executive Jim Ryan said that after speaking privately with Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick and Spencer, He wasn’t initially worried about the deal. However, he later realized that Microsoft might be using Call of Duty’s popularity to limit PlayStation, giving PlayStation players a “downgraded experience.”
Microsoft’s acquisition plan now has the last remaining hurdle. The British antitrust department “Competitive Market Bureau” has not yet approved the acquisition transaction. In April of this year, the U.K. Competition Market Agency rejected Microsoft’s transaction plan, arguing that acquiring Activision Blizzard would affect fair competition in the cloud gaming market.
“From day one of our acquisition, we have worked to address the concerns of regulators, platform and game developers, and consumers,” Microsoft President Brad Smith said in a tweet. Even if we go through the final transaction approval in the future, we will remain committed to ensuring that Call of Duty continues to be released on more platforms and brings more gaming experiences to more consumers.”
Microsoft promised the Competition Market Bureau that in the future, in the U.K. market, it will sell Activision Blizzard game copyrights for cloud game services to the industry.
