A few days ago we found out that Microsoft reached an agreement to acquire Activision Blizzard for more than $68 billion dollars, so once the transaction is complete they will become the new owners of Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Candy Crush and other franchises. But nevertheless, there’s a chance COD won’t become an Xbox exclusive and keep coming to PlayStation consoles.
Since the agreement was announced, the question has arisen as to whether the US government would not have problems with this merger, since Microsoft could become a video game industry monopoly. However, with the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft is also acquiring infrastructure, technology, and studios specializing in the mobile device market, an area that Xbox is just making inroads into. Still, one analyst suggests that US antitrust regulations could affect specific franchises.
Related: Xbox: Phil Spencer trusts Sony and Nintendo but not other technology companies.
According to David Cole of DFC Intelligence, regulators are going to take a very close look at the transaction, suggesting the possibility of forcing Microsoft to keep Call of Duty a cross-platform franchise for antitrust concerns.
The big deal is if Call of Duty becomes a Microsoft exclusive. Right now I don’t think [que lo haga]. For one thing, it would be difficult to get through regulators if they want to shut out competition,” David Cole of DFC.
a couple of days ago phil spencer confirmed that he was going to keep all existing Activision Blizzard deals, as well as revealing that he had spoken to Sony bosses and confirmed his wishes to keep call of duty on playstation. Although some players believe that this only applies to current games and the following ones would be exclusive, as happened with Bethesda, it is possible that what Phil says is true and they do not make COD a Microsoft exclusive, despite the fact that the reason is who are following regulations.
Read more: Xbox: Hil Spencer says he’ll fix Activision Blizzard’s cultural issues.
It is expected that the agreement between Microsoft and ActivisionBlizzard It won’t end until mid-2023, so we’ll have to wait until the end of next year to start getting an idea of Xbox’s plans. There is a possibility that Call of Duty continue to be a cross-platform franchise, just like Minecraft, which also belongs to Microsoft but can be played on any platform.