Sony agrees to Call of Duty deal with Microsoft

Sony has agreed to a deal Call of duty with Microsoft to retain the PlayStation franchise following the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer says Sony and Microsoft have agreed a “binding agreement” to keep Call of duty on PlayStation. It’s not immediately clear if this is a 10-year deal, like Microsoft’s signing with Nintendo and other cloud providers.

This ends a bitter battle between companies that have fought privately and publicly over the past year after Microsoft announced its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard in January 2022.

The deal could be similar to the 10-year agreement between Microsoft and Nintendo as well as the various deals Microsoft has with cloud gaming platforms to achieve Call of duty to rival the services, but Microsoft does not comment on the terms of the deal at this time.

Sony had resisted signing the Call of duty dealing with Microsoft after the company first offered a 10-year contract in December 2022. Instead, in filings to regulators, Sony has repeatedly emphasized that it fears making Microsoft Call of duty Xbox exclusives or even ruin the PlayStation versions of the game.

But we did hear a heartbreaking email from PlayStation chief Ryan recited it in court during FTC v. Microsoft He overhears, and reveals that he wasn’t actually worried about it Call of duty Singularity and he was “sure we’ll keep seeing it Call of duty on PlayStation for many years to come.” Microsoft attorneys said Ryan initially had no misgivings about the deal and spoke to Xbox head Phil Spencer to get assurances about the deal. Call of duty in January 2022.

The deal follows months of discussions and counter-responses over the past 18 months between Microsoft and Sony about the future of Activision content on PlayStation. during the FTC v. Microsoft Upon hearing, it was also revealed that an August 26 email from Xbox chief Spencer to PlayStation chief Ryan included a list of Activision games that would remain on PlayStation, and Ryan wasn’t happy:

It wasn’t a meaningful list. This list represents a certain group of old titles that will remain on PlayStation, for example Overwatch There is a but Monitoring 2 There is not, the current version of the game.

This email apparently led to a breakdown in communications between Spencer and Ryan. Spencer said a few days after she sent it the edge that Call of duty It will remain on PlayStation “for at least several more years beyond Sony’s current contract”. Ryan was unhappy about Spencer publicly coming up with contract negotiations and said the offer was “inadequate on several levels and fails to take into account the impact on our players”.

Ryan also said at the time that he “didn’t intend to comment on what I understood to be a private business discussion, but I feel the need to set things right because Phil Spencer has brought this into the public forum.”

Tensions over the fate of the Microsoft Activision Blizzard deal came to a head when Jim Ryan spoke to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick on February 21, 2023 — the same day that Microsoft, Activision, Sony and others met with EU regulators.

Ryan told Kotick, “I don’t want a new one Call of duty an agreement. I just want to prevent your assimilation.” Jim Ryan confirmed the meeting during his testimony at FTC v. Microsoft he heard. I told him [Bobby Kotick] I thought the deal was anti-competitive, I hoped the regulators would do their job and stop it.” Kotick apparently wanted to “cover himself” with a stretch Call of duty Transact with Sony only if a Microsoft transaction is not executed.

Microsoft has always maintained that it will Call of duty on PlayStation, arguing that it makes no sense to pull the game from Sony consoles. Xbox boss Spencer attempted to settle the dispute in November before going to court last month and reiterated, under oath, that Call of duty It will remain on PlayStation 5.

All eyes are now on the regulatory situation in the UK, after a proposed Microsoft deal there was blocked earlier this year. Microsoft is taking part in the UK Competition Court of Appeal (CAT) Case Management Conference tomorrow, along with the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). The conference was called to “consider the request made jointly by all parties to defer these actions pending further discussions between the CMA and Microsoft.”

The CMA and Microsoft agreed earlier this week to end their legal battles to negotiate how to amend the deal in order to address the CMA’s cloud gaming concerns. The CMA also warned earlier this week that Microsoft’s proposals could “lead to a new merger” and that discussions with Microsoft were at an early stage.

Despite this, the Capital Market Authority continued to issue a notice extending its comprehensive investigation into the deal, moving the date of the final order from July 18 to August 29. Microsoft is hoping to close its Activision deal by the July 18th deadline, but we’ll likely see a small delay until the end to allow the UK situation to be resolved.