On Sunday, Microsoft’s head of gaming, Phil Spencer, boasted that they had reached a binding agreement with PlayStation to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation consoles. Kari Perez, Head of Global Communications at Xbox, later confirmed to The Verge that the agreement is for 10 years and applies only to Call of Duty. This means one thing: other Activision Blizzard brands like Overwatch, Diablo, Crash Bandicoot and more may not be coming to PlayStation.
It’s interesting that In January 2022, Microsoft offered Sony a deal to keep all existing Activision Blizzard games for the PlayStation., including Call of Duty. But this agreement expires at the end of 2027. Sony refused to sign it. It looks like Jim Ryan has chosen Call of Duty for 10 years and is ready to sacrifice all other games.
Thus, the agreement is similar to the agreement that Microsoft previously made with Nintendo. It does, however, have 10-year deals with Nvidia and other cloud companies that include not only Call of Duty, but other Activison Blizzard games as well.
Unfortunately, there is no more detailed information about the agreement.
Earlier last week, Microsoft won a major dispute with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The United States no longer prevents society from being historical $68.7 billion bought by Activision Blizzard. Although the main litigation, which will begin with the FTC in August, has not yet been resolved. There are currently problems in the UK, where the acquisition may not be decided until the end of August.
Seems Microsoft intends to buy Activision Blizzard by Tuesday, July 18, 2023when the acquisition agreement expires. After that deadline, Microsoft faces a $3 billion fine against Activision Blizzard. If he wanted to buy it again, both parties would have to negotiate the price again, and so on. There is probably the possibility of some extension of this period. However, it appears that Microsoft is doing its best to complete the merger within the timeframe originally set. So, perhaps even without the approval of the British authorities.
In case you’re wondering when Call of Duty is coming to Game Pass, unless something changes with this new deal, the previous deal between Sony and Activision Blizzard will expire at the end of next year. Therefore, Call of Duty may be in Game Pass from 01/01/2025.
Source :Indian TV
