- Sony and Microsoft end the dispute with a 10-year agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation after the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
- Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed the “binding agreement,” ending a year-and-a-half dispute between the two companies.
- The deal only applies to Call of Duty and comes after months of negotiations and counter offers. The UK has yet to approve the purchase.
Finally, the “war” between Sony and Microsoft would have come to an end.
In a landmark 10-year deal, Sony and Microsoft have agreed to keep the popular Call of Duty video game franchise on the PlayStation platform after the American tech giant’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer confirmed on Twitter that it is a “binding agreement”, ending a year-and-a-half dispute between the two companies.
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
The news comes after serious confrontations, both in public and in private, he says The Vergewhich have been in development since January 2022, when Microsoft said it wanted to buy Activision Blizzard, the developer of multiple video games, including Call of Duty.
Call of Duty on PlayStation: until when
The agreement that is now known differs from an initial one that did not mention specifically the duration of 10 years to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, something that Kari Pérez, director of global communications for Xbox, now confirmed.
It is important to note that this agreement only applies to the Call of Duty franchise (and not to the rest of Activision’s video games). It is similar to the agreement previously reached between Microsoft and Nintendo, but different from the ones sealed with Nvidia.
In the original agreement proposed by Microsoft to Sony in January 2022, it included a promise to keep “all existing Activision console titles at Sony, including future installments of the Call of Duty franchise or any other current Activision franchise on Sony until December 31, 2027”. That date will now extend to 2033 (if the purchase materializes this year), but it will be limited to Call of Duty only.
Everyone looks at the UK
The final deal between Sony and Microsoft is the result of months of discussions and counteroffers that spanned more than a year and a half as both companies sought to determine the future of Activision content on PlayStation.
With this agreement, the regulatory tension in the United Kingdom is expected to gain relevance, since the Microsoft acquisition proposal was blocked in that region earlier this year.
Microsoft aims to close the agreement with Activision before the deadline of this Tuesday, July 18, although there could be an extension of the deadline due to the delay in resolving regulatory issues in the United Kingdom.
The collaboration between Sony and Microsoft to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation is a key step in the gaming industry and ensures that gamers on both platforms can enjoy this franchise for the next decade.
Now read:
Adobe’s purchase of Figma enters a nebula
Databricks buys MosaicML, an AI startup that offers a “low cost” ChatGPT
“Boom” of acquisitions of agencies specializing in generative AI