Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, July 16 (Xinhua) Sony finally agreed to sign a "call of Duty" agreement with Microsoft, ending more than a year of fierce competition over the game's fate on the PlayStation platform.

Phil Spencer, chief executive of Microsoft Games, said Sony and Microsoft had reached a "binding agreement" to ensure that call of Duty would continue to be released on PlayStation. It is not clear whether this is a 10-year contract that Microsoft previously signed with Nintendo and other cloud gaming platforms.

The agreement is the result of a fierce private and public struggle between the two sides after Microsoft announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Sony has refused to sign the call of Duty agreement with Microsoft, fearing that Microsoft will let the game be monopolized by Xbox or deliberately destroy the quality of the PlayStation version. However, in the FTC lawsuit against Microsoft, Jim Ryan, head of Sony's PlayStation division, was exposed in court with a startling email showing that he was not worried about the exclusivity of call of Duty and was "pretty sure we would play call of Duty on PlayStation for many years". Microsoft lawyers argued that Ryan was not initially worried about the deal and communicated with Spencer in January 2022 to seek assurances about the "call of Duty".

CTOnews.com noted that the agreement was reached after a number of discussions and feedback over the past 18 months on the future of Activision's content on PlayStation. The FTC lawsuit against Microsoft also disclosed an email sent by Spencer to Ryan on August 26, 2022, listing some of the animated games that will remain on PlayStation, but Ryan was not satisfied with this, saying that only some old games were listed.

Tensions over Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard culminated on February 21, 2023, the same day Microsoft, Activision, Sony and other companies met with EU regulators. Ryan told Activision CEO Bobby Kotick: "I don't want a new call of Duty agreement. I just want to stop your merger." Ryan confirmed the meeting in the FTC lawsuit against Microsoft. "I told him (Bobby Kotick) that I think this deal is anti-competitive and I hope regulators will do their job and stop it."

Microsoft has always insisted on keeping call of Duty on PlayStation, arguing that from a financial point of view, there is no point in removing the game from Sony's console. Spencer, the head of the Xbox department, tried to settle the debate in November, and when he testified last month, he again vowed that call of Duty would remain on PlayStation 5.

The biggest obstacle to Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard is the British Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Both CMA and Microsoft agreed earlier this week to suspend their legal battles to negotiate how to modify the deal. CMA also warned earlier this week that Microsoft's proposal could "lead to a new merger investigation" and that discussions with Microsoft were at an early stage. However, CMA has issued an extension notice to conduct a full investigation into the transaction, postponing the final transaction date from July 18 to August 29, while Microsoft hopes to complete its Activision deal by the July 18 deadline.

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