Microsoft said on Sunday (July 16, 2023) that Sony and Microsoft have reached a legally binding agreement that would keep Call of Duty available on PlayStation gaming platforms when the Activision Blizzard acquisition is completed.
“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,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said on Twitter Sunday.
Activision is the maker of the best-selling Call of Duty lineup. If an Activision merger was authorized, regulators from all around the world had expressed serious concerns about Microsoft’s potential dominance of the gaming industry.
Microsoft is the manufacturer of the Xbox, which competes directly with Sony’s PlayStation, prompting fears that Microsoft would be able to make games “exclusive” to its own consoles and displace Sony from competition.
Despite the fact that Microsoft and Sony aren’t specifying the duration of the arrangement, the deal helps to some extent to allay such worries. A Microsoft spokesperson noted the deal was in place for the long term. The company has signed similar deals in the past.
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.
Phil Spencer (Microsoft Gaming CEO)
The CEO of Sony’s interactive entertainment division, Jim Ryan, as recently as last month shared anti-competitive concerns. Ryan, whose portfolio includes PlayStation, said that he thought the proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition was not good for competition in videotaped June testimony.
Microsoft vice chair Brad Smith said on Twitter Sunday that even after a potential deal closes, Microsoft “will remain focused on ensuring that Call of Duty remains available on more platforms and for more consumers than ever before.”
The acquisition isn’t certain to close, although Microsoft and Activision’s prospects are markedly better after a federal appeals judge prevented the Federal Trade Commission from temporarily blocking the deal. The FTC had sued to stop the deal in San Francisco federal court in July but had failed to convince a judge that the deal would pose a sufficient anti-competitive risk.
Regulators in the EU signed off on the deal in May. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority, which has forced divestitures and blocked prior tech deals, said on Wednesday that it was prepared to negotiate with Microsoft over the terms of the deal.
The two companies are aiming to complete their transaction by Tuesday, July 18, 2023.
