Microsoft President and Vice Chairman Brad Smith has recently been leading the charge in making sure that the tech giant’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard goes through. After inking separate agreements with Nintendo and Nvidia on Tuesday, the executive has revealed that the Sony-Activision Call of Duty deal will expire in 2024, and claims that Microsoft is offering “a better deal” to Sony than the current arrangement it has with Activision.
Smith led Microsoft’s delegation during an EU regulatory hearing in Brussels on Tuesday, where he argued in favor of his company’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard in front of Sony Interactive Entertainment CEO Jim Ryan as well as regulators and stakeholders from the industry at large. On the same day, he secured a deal with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty games to the latter’s consoles with complete content and release date parity. Right after the hearing, Smith also announced an agreement with Nvidia for Xbox games including Call of Duty to be made available on the Game Pass competitor GeForce Now service.
With these key wins all set to significantly improve Microsoft’s position in front of antitrust watchdogs, Smith has turned his sights to staunch opponent Sony, which has refused to take Microsoft’s offered deal that would bind it to ensure access to Call of Duty on PlayStation hardware for at least 10 years. In an interview, Smith revealed that the Sony-Activision Call of Duty deal — which gives Sony release date and content priority, and keeps Call of Duty off Xbox Game Pass — “will expire next year:”
We’re offering to Sony the same thing we’ve offered to Nintendo and to Nvidia, especially for Call of Duty: a 10-year agreement, legally binding, so that when we bring a new version of Call of Duty on Xbox, it will be available on Sony PlayStation on the same day, on the same terms, with the same features. It really ensures parity. I think everybody who’s looked at this would say it’s a better deal for Sony than the one they have right now with Activision Blizzard, that will expire next year.
Notably, this means that the Treyarch-helmed Call of Duty release planned for 2024 will be the last game covered under this deal, following which Activision Blizzard is virtually free to sign any new deals or agreements with competitors, even if the acquisition does not go through.
Stay tuned here at MP1st for all news and announcements concerning Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Source: CNBC