In the midst of a soap opera about buying Activision Blizzard, Microsoft president, Brad Smith, was the last to publicly defend the nearly $69,000 million deal. In an opinion column published Wall Street Magazinethe chief executive dismissed criticism from Sony and assured that he would stop offering call of Duty on PlayStation it is not included in their plans. Up to the qualification of such a decision as “catastrophic” and “economically irrational”.
The moment Smith chose to come out and talk about this topic is not accidental, nor is it a direct reference to the future. call of Duty. A few weeks ago it became known that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will prepare a lawsuit that could derail the deal. And the manager himself decided to address the topic from the first line of his article. “The FTC is reportedly planning to sue Microsoft to stop our proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard. This would be a huge mistake. It would hurt competition, consumers and thousands of game developers,” he said.
Microsoft President Assures Xbox’s Intention is to strengthen its subscription cloud gaming service, Xbox Game Pass, so that its price becomes more affordable.. But for this you need to have a very wide catalog of popular games. “We just don’t have enough today,” he said.
That’s where the addition of franchises like call of Duty plays a transcendental role in the plans of the company. Smith was quick to point out that Sony’s objections to buying Activision Blizzard they have no livelihood. A statement that echoes what Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, has said repeatedly.
“The main potential anti-competitive risk from Sony is that Microsoft will stop offering call of Duty on the PlayStation. But it would be economically irrational. An integral part of income call of Duty Activision Blizzard comes from sales of PlayStation games. Given the popularity crossplayit would also be a disaster for the franchise call of Duty and the Xbox itself, repulsing millions of gamers.”
Brad Smith, president of Microsoft.
call of Dutyequal terms on PlayStation and Xbox for 10 years
One of the most interesting things about Brad Smith’s article is that it confirms that Microsoft offered Sony the opportunity throw call of Duty on PlayStation under the same terms as on Xbox for 10 years. That is, the future games of the popular shooter first-person titles are released simultaneously on both platforms.
It doesn’t necessarily mean extinction call of Duty on PlayStation after the specified period. Although this may mean that after this agreement, new parts of the shooting game will appear first on the Xbox and then on the Sony console.
But Microsoft goes even further and claims to be ready to offer the same commitment for any other platform. Even though compliance with the agreement is required by law before the major regulators of the world.
It will be interesting to see if Sony lifts the gauntlet and responds to Brad Smith’s remarks. In September, Jim Ryan, CEO of PlayStation, lashed out at Redmonds, accusing them of making an offer “inadequate in many ways”. According to the head of the Japanese firm, Microsoft has offered to keep call of Duty there are only three years left on your console once the current contract between the Japanese and Activision Blizzard, which expires in 2024, expires.
So far, those led by Satya Nadella argue that the Activision purchase will not affect competition. Microsoft says that the Xbox is the third console to sell after the PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, and that it does not have a significant presence in the mobile gaming market, although this may change in the future. Will their arguments be enough to convince regulators to approve the acquisition? The answer will be known only in 2023.
Source: Hiper Textual
