Microsoft says it has no plans to make the Call of Duty franchise exclusive to the Xbox at any point in the future.
The company, in a blog post Wednesday, reiterated it planned to honor any existing contract terms between Sony and Activision Blizzard, following the close of its acquisition of the video game publisher. For the first time, though, the company said it had committed to make the game available to PlayStation owners beyond the time frame of that agreement.
“To be clear, Microsoft will continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles available on PlayStation through the term of any existing agreement with Activision,” the company said. “And we have committed to Sony that we will also make them available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love. We are also interested in taking similar steps to support Nintendo’s successful platform. We believe this is the right thing for the industry, for gamers, and for our business.”
The announcement comes amid expected close government scrutiny of the $68 billion deal. Antitrust officials have signaled they plan to look closely at any big deals in the tech sector. The anticipated 2023 close date announced by Activision and Microsoft implies they expect the review of the takeover could be an extended one.
It appears the FTC will review the transaction. That organization is led by Big Tech critic Lina Khan, who has taken a more aggressive approach to antitrust policy, blocking the proposed Nvidia-Arm deal and filing a lawsuit to stop Lockheed Martin’s proposed deal with Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings.
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