Following the court's ruling regarding Microsoft's acquisition of Call of Duty, Sony has finally decided to make a deal with Microsoft with regard to Call of Duty. This, of course, begs the question: what exactly does this mean for us gamers?
We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and @PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) July 16, 2023
Brief Summary
Before we dive into what exactly this means for gamers, let's go through a quick summary of the events leading up to this deal. Back in January of 2022, Microsoft announced that it is acquiring Activision – Blizzard for $69 billion, the biggest in gaming history. The IPs they will get include Overwatch, Diablo, World of Warcraft, and the much-disputed Call of Duty series. Microsoft has already assured time and time again that Call of Duty will still be on PlayStation. In fact, they offered Sony a 10-year deal for Call of Duty. Sony did not accept the deal at the time.
In the meantime, Microsoft signed deals with Nintendo, as well as various cloud gaming platforms to release Call of Duty games on them for a ten-year period. While this was happening, a total of three government bodies stood in the way of the acquisition: the UK's CMA, the USA's FTC, and the EU Commission. The UK CMA expressed concerns over the Cloud Gaming aspect of the acquisition. The EU Commission also expressed their concerns regarding Cloud gaming, but later on, approved the deal thanks to Microsoft's remedies. The UK CMA was not impressed.
Finally, there's the US's FTC, which brought the acquisition to court recently. However, the court ruled in favor of Microsoft. The FTC tried to appeal the ruling but to no avail. A few days after, as mentioned in the tweet above, Microsoft and Sony finally signed a “binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.” According to The Verge, the deal is good for ten years. The deal is also exclusively for Call of Duty.
Now that you're up to date with the recent history (or at least a summary of it), let's dive into the main question on people's minds: What does this deal mean for gamers?
Call of Duty will still arrive on PlayStation
The simplest result of this deal is that Call of Duty games will still ship to PlayStation. This point has been the one Sony, as well as PlayStation owners, have been throwing around. A lot of people were worried that if Microsoft does acquire Activision-Blizzard, the hit first-person shooter series will no longer be shipping to the PlayStation. However, Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, has said time and time again that it will still ship to the PlayStation. In fact, he even mentioned before that it would do more harm than good if he prevented the game from coming to PlayStation.
This deal basically solidifies his promise. By making this ten-year deal with PlayStation, we are at least assured that we will see more games from the series on the console.
Call of Duty will likely be in Game Pass
On the flip side, this could also mean that the Call of Duty games will finally arrive in the Xbox Game Pass. At the moment, none of the Call of Duty games are available in Game Pass. Not just the modern ones, mind you, but even the very first game in the franchise. With the acquisition underway, players will now likely be able to play all of the games in the franchise if they're subscribed to the service.
Of course, we don't have a date yet as to when, or if, this will happen. Some people are speculating that it could happen as early as this year. Others think that it can happen next year in 2024. The latest people expect it to happen is in 2025. Should Microsoft release any official announcements, we will be sure to let you know.
Sony will likely receive deals for other games
As mentioned above, this ten-year deal is solely for Call of Duty. As such, Microsoft still holds the power to prevent other games from coming to PlayStation. It's now up to the two companies if they will enter any deals for other games. Thankfully, if Spencer is telling the truth, this shouldn't be a problem. If Spencer is able to make deals for Call of Duty, one of the biggest IPs under Activision-Blizzard, then he should be fine making deals with the others. Not only that, but it has been their battlecry throughout this whole ordeal that they want to make games accessible to everyone.
If this really is the case, then future Activision-Blizzard games will also likely be coming to PlayStation.
Something big might happen in ten years
As mentioned above, this deal is a ten-year deal. That means in ten years, likely when the PlayStation 6 and new Xbox come out, we will see if Microsoft and Sony will renew the deal. This will likely happen, but of course, we can't say for sure. Microsoft might suddenly change their tune or the Call of Duty franchise might eventually just die. In any case, once the ten-year deal expires, we will have yet another group of headlines ready.
Summary
In summary, the only real big change (at least for the next ten years) is that Call of Duty might come to Game Pass. Other than that, the deal doesn't really bring with it huge changes. At least, not in the immediate future. Call of Duty will still arrive on PlayStation. The IPs under Activision Blizzard will still be available in their respective consoles. Any new games the developers make will likely involve deals with Microsoft and Sony. Life goes on for most gamers.
This, however, all banks on how well Microsoft will keep its promise of making games available to everyone. Should they pull any moves that go outside of what they have promised to close this deal, they can expect everyone to be up in arms about it.
That's everything the deal between Sony and Microsoft for Call of Duty means for gamers. Should there be any sudden changes to the current situation, we will be sure to let you know. Otherwise, check out our gaming news articles for the latest in gaming news.
Follow Us
Subscribe