Game enthusiasts and industry staff walk between Microsoft Xbox and Sony PlayStation displays at the E3 trade show on June 16, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.
Christian Peterson | fake images
sony has signed a binding 10-year agreement with Microsoft keep Call of Duty on your PlayStation game consoles after you close the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Microsoft said Sunday.
“We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and PlayStation have entered into a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard,” said Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming. saying on Twitter on Sunday.
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Activision is the creator of the best-selling Call of Duty line. Regulators around the world had expressed serious concerns about Microsoft’s power over the gaming market if the Activision acquisition was approved.
Microsoft is the maker of Xbox, which competes directly with Sony’s PlayStation, raising fears that Microsoft could make “exclusive” games for its own consoles and crowd out Sony’s competition.
The deal does do something to ameliorate those concerns, though Microsoft and Sony won’t disclose the length of the deal. A Microsoft spokesperson said the agreement was in place for the long term. The company has signed similar offers in the past.
The anti-competitive concerns were shared by the CEO of Sony’s interactive entertainment division, Jim Ryan, last month. Ryan, whose portfolio includes PlayStation, said he thought the proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard was bad for the competition in videotaped testimony in June.
Microsoft Vice President Brad Smith saying on Twitter on Sunday that even after a potential deal closes, Microsoft “will remain focused on ensuring Call of Duty remains available on more platforms and to more consumers than ever before.”
It is not certain that the acquisition will close, although the prospects for Microsoft and Activision are markedly better after a federal appeals judge blocked the Federal Trade Commission from temporarily blocking the deal. The FTC had filed a lawsuit to stop the deal in federal court in San Francisco in July, but failed to convince a judge that the deal would pose a sufficient anticompetitive risk.
EU regulators signed the agreement in May. The UK Competition and Markets Authority, which has forced divestments and blocked previous technology deals, said on Wednesday it was prepared to negotiate with Microsoft over the terms of the deal.
The two companies aim to complete their transaction on Tuesday, July 18.
