Modern Warfare 2
Even Sony has seen the writing on the wall at this point for the Microsoft Activision Blizzard acquisition, which could close any day now. After three failed attempts to stay the deal, it now may close even ahead of an FTC appeal. The lone remaining obstacle is the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority, which already rejected the deal on cloud-based issues, but that’s being worked out as we speak.
As such, on Sunday it was announced that Sony had indeed signed one of Microsoft’s famous Call of Duty deals, the 10-year contracts that Microsoft had offered to every other platform under the sun in an effort to try to prove it wasn’t going to take the franchise exclusive to Xbox.
Sony repeatedly rejected any deal, as there was no good reason for it to take it for as long as it was still attempting to stop the acquisition. If it did, it would be a tacit endorsement of the deal, and then without any industry competition protesting at all, there essentially wouldn’t be a case. Not that there ended up being much of a case anyway.
So, with the deal about to close, Sony saw the light and signed a deal. It was always going to if the deal went through, but there was no Microsoft rug-pulling, screw-turning or “revenge” on Sony here from what we can tell.
Both Sony and Microsoft confirm the deal is for 10 years, Microsoft not lowering that number. There are no reports the revenue split has been changed more dramatically in Microsoft’s favor.
This is only for Call of Duty, not other Activision or Blizzard games, leaving the possibility open that other IPs like Tony Hawk, Spyro or Crash Bandicoot may be Xbox exclusive in the future, a wild scenario to think that Crash Bandicoot of all series may no longer be on PlayStation, where it was essentially its mascot for generations. But it’s certainly a lot less important than securing Call of Duty for a decade.
Modern Warfare 2
With all the power, why didn’t Microsoft give Sony a worse deal? Why not cut it to two to three years instead of the 10 it gave everyone else, and force Sony to eat sand?
I think the main thing is that Microsoft wants to look true to its word, like it wasn’t trying to pull any fast ones or take advantage of Sony now that it did have all the power, which would directly feed into anti-competitive concerns. If you offer Sony and Nintendo a 10-year deal, Nintendo takes it and Sony doesn’t, then the only thing you offer after that is a much shorter deal with worse terms to disadvantage your chief competitor, that looks bad, even if it’s your “right” to do so.
It’s important to keep in mind that is far from the last company Microsoft will acquire that will attract antitrust scrutiny. Or not even the last video game company. It wants to be sure to do the things it said it was going to do, essentially to the letter, so it can look trustworthy when it comes to the next set of promises it has to make to a court or regulators. Though after these 10-year deals expire in 2033, what happens is anyone’s guess.
The only immediate thing I can see happening with Sony when its current marketing deal with Activision expires (which Microsoft said it will honor) is no more things like exclusive skins or early beta access. The larger question is that even if Sony has Call of Duty, if and when Microsoft decides to put yearly Call of Duty installments on Game Pass, which arguably would instantly become that service’s biggest draw…ever. But that’s an issue for another day.
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