The news was announced on Sunday by Microsoftâs gaming head Phil Spencer. âWe are pleased to announce that Microsoft and â˝ď¸ PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard,â Spencer â˝ď¸ tweeted. âWe look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games.â
A Microsoft spokesperson â˝ď¸ subsequently confirmed to The Verge that the deal would last for a term of 10 years, and covers Call of â˝ď¸ Duty only â not any other Activision Blizzard games. That puts it on a par with agreements Microsoft had previously â˝ď¸ signed with Nintendo, Nvidia, and others.
Microsoft president Brad Smith also commented, saying, âFrom Day One of this acquisition, weâve been â˝ď¸ committed to addressing the concerns of regulators, platform and game developers, and consumers. Even after we cross the finish line â˝ď¸ for this dealâs approval, we will remain focused on ensuring that Call of Duty remains available on more platforms and â˝ď¸ for more consumers than ever before.â
The signing of the deal marks the end of a long stalemate, during which Microsoft â˝ď¸ made repeated public offers to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, while Sony dismissed these and instead attempted to use â˝ď¸ its leverage with regulators to sink MicrosoftâsR$68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard completely. âI donât want a new Call of â˝ď¸ Duty deal. I just want to block your merger,â PlayStation boss Jim Ryan reportedly told Activision executives on the day â˝ď¸ of a meeting with European Union regulators in February.
PlayStationâs strategy was to use Call of Duty to convince regulators the â˝ď¸ merger would kill competition in the console market, because Microsoft would withhold the games from PlayStation or release inferior versions â˝ď¸ there. But this strategy was none too successful. EU regulators were satisfied with the assurances offered by Microsoft, while the â˝ď¸ U.K.âs Competition and Markets Authority eventually conceded it was in Microsoftâs interest to keep Call of Duty available to PlayStationâs â˝ď¸ huge audience, and switched tack in its opposition of the deal to concerns around cloud gaming.
x25 in 1xbet