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The battle over the custody of Call of Duty is finally drawing to a close, as the FTC loses in its efforts to stop Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and as Sony signs a binding deal with Microsoft that will keep the Call of Duty franchise on the PlayStation platform for the foreseeable future, with Sony, at last, withdrawing its protests against the acquisition.
It's been a long 19 months for Microsoft and Activision Blizzard, but it appears that the tech giant is just about to finalize its acquisition of the gaming industry's leading veterans. With the continued success of Call of Duty and the recent victories earned on the Diablo front, this acquisition easily makes it to our list of the biggest acquisitions in gaming. In fact, once the dust settles, it would be the biggest.
Sony's signing of this deal with Microsoft will ensure that in spite of the acquisition, Call of Duty will continue to be released on PlayStation platforms. This is a similar deal Microsoft has already struck with other companies like Nintendo, with a majority of these deals having a validity of ten years. The actual length of the deal struck between Sony and Microsoft remains unclear.
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Microsoft claims that these deals embody the company's commitment to making Call of Duty available to as many platforms as possible, although some critics would also point to these very same deals as evidence of Microsoft's plan to keep Call of Duty Microsoft-only unless companies are willing to shell out payments. However, as documents reviewed in court would attest to, there has been zero indication that Microsoft ever planned to make Call of Duty exclusive to their platforms.
It is worth noting that Microsoft's deals with these other companies only encompass Call of Duty releases, and does not automatically mean these companies would be entitled to other Activision Blizzard's other IPs.
The fate of the Call of Duty franchise has been the pivotal talking point in the court battles related to the Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and with this debate finally closed, it appears that the deal will also, after almost 20 months, finally push through, giving Bobby Kotick his golden parachute.
