For much of the past year, the tech juggernauts have been in conflict with each other over Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision-Blizzard and its potential impact on the market as various regulatory agencies aimed to put a stop to the deal, citing concerns about further industry consolidation.
A key sticking point was the Call of Duty franchise’s continued presence on Sony’s consoles, and as obstacles ahead of the merger continue to clear, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has announced that they reached a binding agreement with Sony to solve the matter, keeping the action franchise on the platform.
This development comes shortly after a July 10 court decision by a California federal judge that overruled the Federal Trade Commission’s latest attempt to block the acquisition by filing an injunction, writing that the agency “had not demonstrated it was likely to show that the deal would substantially limit competition.
Details of the deal are still emerging, but reporting by The Verge’s Tom Warren suggests that it could be similar to other 10-year agreements Microsoft has made with other platforms with regard to Call of Duty, the sort that Sony rejected in Dec. 2022.
Related: Sony speaks up about Microsoft’s Call of Duty offer
Much was made about the smoke and mirrors aspect of the whole affair. Microsoft, on its part, has maintained that it has no plans to make the long-running franchise exclusive to its own platforms, going as far as to suggest that Sony is working to sabotage their acquisition of Activision-Blizzard. Meanwhile, an e-mail readout at a recent court hearing on June 22 has revealed that Sony’s PlayStation chief Jim Ryan believes that the move “is not an exclusivity play at all,” casting doubts on their public concerns. He also told Kotick on Feb. 21. that “I don’t want a new Call of Duty deal. I just want to block your merger,” as was revealed in one of the court hearings.
As for the wider gaming community, the general reaction seemed to be a sigh of relief as many were looking to move past the ever-complicating story.
At the time of writing, the United Kingdom’s regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, is the only significant regulatory body left that’s looking to block the deal, but they agreed to put their legal disputes on hold with Microsoft as they aim to address their concerns about the future state of the cloud gaming market. They recently issued a notice of extension, moving the date for a final order from July 18 to Aug. 29, though the company will still look to resolve matters and complete the deal by the former date.
This is a developing story. We will update this article as we gain more information.
