Recently, Microsoft has made some big promises as it works to incentivize regulators to allow $69 billion to acquire Activision Blizzard. Among those promises was a deal offered to Sony pledging that Call of Duty would remain available on PlayStation consoles for ten years – a deal that is said to include PlayStation Plus rights.
According to the report of Bloombergrights to sell the game through Sony’s PlayStation game subscription service were promised with Microsoft previously stated offer for Sony for ten years of Call of Duty on Sony hardware if the acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through. Sony has yet to accept the offer and continues to raise concerns with UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and the Federal Trade Commission on acquisitions.
The PlayStation Plus inclusion offer is particularly notable given Microsoft’s increasing promotion of its own subscription service, Xbox Game Pass. Microsoft has previously stated its intention to put Call of Duty on Game Pass if the deal ends, and Sony has stated that Game Pass leads PlayStation Plus “significantly” in terms of subscriptions.
Meanwhile, Nintendo recently accept the ten-year agreement offered by Microsoft to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo consoles and Valve head Gabe Newell says he doesn’t need such a contractbut happy to continue working with Microsoft “after” (Newell’s word) when the deal closes.
Despite Newell’s confidence, the deal was far from done. Most recently, the FTC announces lawsuit to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzardsays the deal will “hurt competition in subscription services and high-performance consoles by denying or reducing competitors’ access to its popular content.”
Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.
