July 17 (Portaltic/EP) –
Sony has entered into a binding agreement with Microsoft ensuring that Xbox will keep the Call of Duty franchise, Developed by Activision Blizzard for PlayStation for 10 yearsafter its acquisition by Microsoft.
Since it was announced Activision Blizzard purchase by the parent company of Xbox in January 2022, and after months of trials and legal battles between Sony and Microsoft To avoid a possible monopoly in the ‘gaming’ industry, both companies have put end to this fight coming to a agreement regarding exclusivity of this franchise, one of the reasons why this confrontation has been prolonged.
This has been detailed by Xbox in a post on Twitter, where he announced the agreement between Microsoft and Sony to keep the Activision Blizzard video game on PlayStationalleging that in this way they intend to achieve “a future in which gamers around the world have more options to play their favorite games”.
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
Specifically, this agreement ensures a 10 year commitment to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, as Xbox global communications director Kari Perez has confirmed to The Verge. Following this line, the deal only includes the aforementioned video game franchisebut not other titles from the same developer.
Microsoft offered Sony a deal to keep Call of Duty on your console for the first time in December 2022. However, the Japanese manufacturer did not accept any of the proposals from Microsoft, alleging that the American company could also sabotage the video game.
Specifically, he accused Microsoft that it could launch a version of the title with lower performance and quality for PlayStation and suggested that it would contain bugs and bugs so that players would “lose trust in PlayStation” and switch to Xbox.
FTC LOSES LAWSUIT AGAINST MICROSOFT PURCHASE
Now, the situation has changed after the ruling in favor of Microsoft in the lawsuit of the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) against the manufacturer of Xbox, in which it was intended to block the purchase of the video game developer by Microsoft.
A US federal court last month issued a temporary restraining order -previously requested by the FTC- that blocked Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard. However, this Saturday the Court of Appeals of the Ninth Circuit has denied the FTC’s motionwho has lost the trial.
As detailed by the Microsoft Chairman Brad Smith through a Twitter postfrom the company appreciate the “quick response” of this court. This brings us one step closer to the finish line in this marathon of global regulatory reviews.
Now the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the only organism relevant than continues to be an obstacle to your purchase. On the contrary, the purchase has been approved in Europe, Japan, China and Brazil, among other countries that have analyzed the acquisition.
in another postSmith recalled that, since they announced the purchase of Activision Blizzard, the company has “committed to address the concerns of regulators”as well as game and platform developers and consumers.
From Day One of this acquisition, we’ve been committed to addressing the concerns of regulators, platform and game developers, and consumers. Even after we cross the finish line for this deal’s approval, we will remain focused on ensuring that Call of Duty remains available on… https://t.co/hMWjC58wRi
—Brad Smith (@BradSmi) July 16, 2023
In this framework, now that the green light for the purchase of the video game developerSmith has stressed that they will continue to try to ensure that Call of Duty “remains available on more platforms and for more consumers never”.
