Wars are still being fought over the fallout of Microsoft's mammoth acquisition of Activision Blizzard back in January. Specifically, what will happen to the industry-leading Call of Duty franchise. Though Microsoft has stated several times its intention to continue releasing Call of Duty on PlayStation, PlayStation head Jim Ryan has remained unpleased with the situation.

In a statement to The Verge, Xbox head Phil Spencer revealed that, following Microsoft's offer to buy Activision Blizzard, they provided Sony with a signed, written statement that they would continue to put Call of Duty on PlayStation with full content and feature parity and on the same day as other platforms, for "at least several more years" following the end of Sony's current contract with Activision Blizzard, which he boasted was "well beyond typical gaming industry agreements." It's not currently known how many games are covered by Sony's current deal with Activision Blizzard.

Ryan shot back at Microsoft in a statement released to GamesIndustry.biz, calling Microsoft's offer "inadequate on many levels." Microsoft's proposal only extended the current offer for three years, which Ryan felt undermined their ability to provide PlayStation players with a top-quality Call of Duty experience. He also expressed some frustration with feeling compelled to make a public statement, adding "I hadn’t intended to comment on what I understood to be a private business discussion, but I feel the need to set the record straight because Phil Spencer brought this into the public forum."

Meanwhile, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority has decided that its investigation into the Activision Blizzard acquisition will require a more-detailed "phase 2" investigation to see if the deal could seriously impact Sony's ability to compete fairly in the UK, believing that Call of Duty alone is a big enough console seller. Sony, speaking again to GamesIndustry.biz, celebrated the announcement, declaring that "by giving Microsoft control of Activision games like Call of Duty, this deal would have major negative implications for gamers and the future of the gaming industry. We want to guarantee PlayStation gamers continue to have the highest quality gaming experience, and we appreciate the CMA's focus on protecting gamers." Microsoft shot back with a terse statement to Eurogamer, simply stating "it makes zero business sense for Microsoft to remove Call of Duty from PlayStation given its market leading console position."

 

[Viri]

Only thing worth anything is CoD and Candy Crush. Activision-Blizzard did their best to kill everything else.

I personally don't give a shit if Microsoft buys them. Activision did their best to kill anything I liked in their company.

 

[Valwinz]

Really should be more of a battle over antitrust. Microsoft is literally trying to create another monopoly

ima how? by denying a single console a game they now own boo hoo

 

[LainaGabranth]

Oh my fucking gawd, just put it on all systems, assholes... Switch included.

Please no, the Switch's hardware is so dogshit by last gen standards that we don't need *another* console holding back games

 

[LightyKD]

Meanwhile, the UK's Competition and Markets Authority has decided that its investigation into the Activision Blizzard acquisition will require a more-detailed "phase 2" investigation to see if the deal could seriously impact Sony's ability to compete fairly in the UK, believing that Call of Duty alone is a big enough console seller.

This shit right here... Correct me if I'm wrong but Nintendo has sold over 91 million Switch systems as of August 11 2022, WITHOUT Call of Duty. What is there to investigate? Sony has other IPs. Bring back Syphon Filter for f*ck's sake. You can't tell me that this company with all of their resources, does not have the creativity to create an IP on par with Call of Duty.

 

[LightyKD]

Oh my fucking gawd, just put it on all systems, assholes... Switch included.

At least throw the Switch a bone with Call of Duty Mobile.

 

[The Catboy]

Of course there is some antitrust issues whenever Microsoft acquires a company, but if Sony does it, nothing is wrong. /s

Meanwhile, Embracer Group slowly acquires more gaming studios, and Tencents invest large sums of money to several gaming companies.

Please don’t assume that I don’t throw shit at Sony too. Anyone trying to make an obvious monopoly is going to get shit thrown at them by me. I don’t choose favorites when companies are trying to ruin the market.

 

[mightymuffy]

Typical fukkin Sony as always, nothing to see here really.....
3 years is literally your usual business contract length, even if MS said 3 years you can guarantee it will extend beyond that, too much money there, just look at Minecraft.. they just don't want CoD going on gamepass, and you can kind of see why - just stop mincing your fukkin words Sony..

 

[The Catboy]

They're just getting meaningful exclusives just like Sony used to
It's just that Sony knows Call of Duty being exclusive will hurt them. All these people who only buy their yearly CoD and Fifa will have to get an Xbox and Ryan gets mad

Microsoft getting Zenimax and Activision/Blizzard leads nowhere close to a monopoly. With companies like Ubisoft, Tencent, EA, Square Enix and so on and so forth. The author of the article is right, it's about Call of Duty, Sony do not give a fuck about antitrust

I don't consider myself a « pro-Xbox » or something, but I just want to see this deal being finalized so not-only there will be no reason to buy the yearly CoD if it's on gamepass, but also because maybe it'll show Sony that it might be time to stop being garbage. They won't fix their prices in Europe, they even made their console more expensive « because of the inflation » (yet nobody else did, and they don't up the price in the US themselves, so the console AND the games AND the controllers and accessories are even more expensive). So fuck Sony, they deserve a slap and this might teach them a lesson

The monopoly aspect is about Microsoft buying out large American distributors and developers, which is making those areas smaller and under Microsoft’s control. I am upset that Microsoft was able to acquire another company, which obviously resulted in further concerns for that company’s products.

 

[stanleyopar2000]

If Jim Ryan is going to be bitch about call of duty, then go back into your drawer of forgotten IP's and give us a new Resistance, SOCOM, Killzone or even MAG (PS5 could handle it now) and I don't know....actually compete?....like the intention of the free market?

 

[TheZander]

nobody even plays video games anymore this whole thing is pointless

 

[Marc_LFD]

Sony has the Killzone franchise. Make a new one!

New, original, creative, unique games is what we need and CoD are just cashcows which eventually will be skeletons.

 

[Marc_LFD]

The new CoD looks fucking sick tbh. Would love to see it be a PC exclusive just so these shit consoles can quit holding the series back.

Even if it is, the title is very misleading.

Modern Warfare 2 (old)
Modern Warfare II (new)

They know many have nostalgia for MW2, but this is a different game. Damn Activision and their stupid names.

Microsoft owns them which makes sense since their names are terrible and confusing, too.

1. Xbox
2. Xbox 360
3. Xbox One
4. Xbox Series

And the XO cases have discs on the left side which is really weird. It's like the Brits driving on the wrong side of the road.

 

[ZER-O]

Why does this feel like two spoiled twats fighting over expensive kids toys

Sony Bought Boungie for Petty money, Xbox Pride Got Hurt so they bought the Golden Goose of Console Sellers
Microsoft is doing what Playstation was doing for PS4, Secure enough Exclusives to justify the existance of their own console
Example: Street Fighter V which sells consoles

Quote:
The best selling Xbox one game was Halo 5 Guardians at 5 Million units sold
while in comparison on the PS4 side 11 Games sold more than 5 Million units, with the best selling game is God of War 2018 at 19+ Million units.

XBox Brand didn't have the games to justify buying it during PS4 Era
Sony dropped the Ball with PS5, almost Zero Exclusive games on Release with 70$ price tag on Digital downloads
XBOX can milk Overwatch and Diablo series alone if they wanted to destroy compitiotion

under the table these 2 are trashing each with long term console exclusive titles or timed excluives
Microsoft happens to have the Bigger Deep pockets.
3 years from now when you see Xbox Series X console Bundles with installed C.O.D Games or exclusive content is when Playstation Consoles becomes obsolete

also COD series will never Die, if Fortnight can exist so can C.O.D and at this point in time you can not beat the company that bought Minecraft and then went to port it on every console friend or foe to maximize profits!

 

[Jayro]

Even if it is, the title is very misleading.

Modern Warfare 2 (old)
Modern Warfare II (new)

They know many have nostalgia for MW2, but this is a different game. Damn Activision and their stupid names.

Microsoft owns them which makes sense since their names are terrible and confusing, too.

1. Xbox
2. Xbox 360
3. Xbox One
4. Xbox Series

And the XO cases have discs on the left side which is really weird. It's like the Brits driving on the wrong side of the road.

Xbox 1
Xbox 360
Xbox One

I thought for sure the next one would be Xbox Three-Sixty.

 

[raxadian]

Really should be more of a battle over antitrust. Microsoft is literally trying to create another monopoly

And Sony isn't? How many studios has Sony bought again? How many Game IPs they own?

Why is that when Sony does it there is no problem but when Microsoft does it people cries to the heavens?

 

[LainaGabranth]

Even if it is, the title is very misleading.

Modern Warfare 2 (old)
Modern Warfare II (new)

They know many have nostalgia for MW2, but this is a different game. Damn Activision and their stupid names.

I hate the trend of "GAME (YEAR)" and I wish it'd fucking die. At least for Doom 2016 it *kind* of made sense but it just sucks as a trend all around down the line.

 

[Xzi]

"Sony and Microsoft continue public battle over control of the pre-teen demographic."

If Jim Ryan is going to be bitch about call of duty, then go back into your drawer of forgotten IP's and give us a new Resistance, SOCOM, Killzone or even MAG (PS5 could handle it now) and I don't know....actually compete?....like the intention of the free market?

Oh they could easily make a better shooter gameplay-wise, but Call of Duty doesn't sell because it's good, it sells because it's got name recognition.

 

[HellGhast]

Who cares about an over-hyped, played-out cliché ridden game like Call of Doodie?

What really pissed me off as a PlayStation fan was losing Bethesda and their impressive single player ips.

 

[ertaboy356b]

Another one bitching about monopoly. Why not release your games on the Xbox too?

 

[Marc_LFD]

Another one bitching about monopoly. Why not release your games on the Xbox too?

God of War, Horizon, Spider-Man, and Gran Turismo?

It'd be interesting to see God of War, Horizon, and Spidey on Xbox, but there are better racing sims than GT7 so Xbox gamers aren't losing anything especially since that game is a demo when played offline.