Xbox has confirmed that it offered to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years amid rumors its Activision Blizzard buyout might actually happen.
The deal for Microsoft to buy the company behind the Call of Duty franchise is one that is still being pondered by numerous bodies around the globe, but Microsoft president Brad Smith has now confirmed rumours of a special 10-year deal offered to PlayStation. Such a deal would ensure that the Call of Duty games cannot become an Xbox exclusive for at least a decade.
Writing in an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, Smith said that Microsoft has "offered Sony a 10-year contract to make each new Call of Duty release available on PlayStation the same day it comes to Xbox." He went further to say that the company would be open to providing "the same commitment to other platforms and making it legally enforceable by regulators in the US, UK, and European Union.'
This follows the revelation that the buyout of Activision Blizzard might actually get the go-ahead, despite expectations that the FTC would seek to block it. A new report claims that FTC chair Lina Khan could be faced with a splitting of votes, with half of the four-person panel keen to allow the buyout to complete. Such a vote would be problematic for Khan, with some now suggesting that a more prudent decision would be to allow it to happen while demanding concessions from Microsoft.
A 10-year deal with PlayStation might be seen as one such concession.
It was thought that Khan would seek to block the deal in an attempt to flex the FTC's muscles, but that wouldn't work if the vote was split - hence the need for a new approach. Having Microsoft agree to concessions could be the best of both worlds.
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