The news was announced on Sunday by Microsoft’s gaming head Phil Spencer. “We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and 0️⃣ PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard,” Spencer 0️⃣ tweeted. “We look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games.”
A Microsoft spokesperson 0️⃣ subsequently confirmed to The Verge that the deal would last for a term of 10 years, and covers Call of 0️⃣ Duty only — not any other Activision Blizzard games. That puts it on a par with agreements Microsoft had previously 0️⃣ signed with Nintendo, Nvidia, and others.
Microsoft president Brad Smith also commented, saying, “From Day One of this acquisition, we’ve been 0️⃣ committed to addressing the concerns of regulators, platform and game developers, and consumers. Even after we cross the finish line 0️⃣ for this deal’s approval, we will remain focused on ensuring that Call of Duty remains available on more platforms and 0️⃣ for more consumers than ever before.”
The signing of the deal marks the end of a long stalemate, during which Microsoft 0️⃣ made repeated public offers to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, while Sony dismissed these and instead attempted to use 0️⃣ its leverage with regulators to sink Microsoft’sR$68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard completely. “I don’t want a new Call of 0️⃣ Duty deal. I just want to block your merger,” PlayStation boss Jim Ryan reportedly told Activision executives on the day 0️⃣ of a meeting with European Union regulators in February.
PlayStation’s strategy was to use Call of Duty to convince regulators the 0️⃣ merger would kill competition in the console market, because Microsoft would withhold the games from PlayStation or release inferior versions 0️⃣ there. But this strategy was none too successful. EU regulators were satisfied with the assurances offered by Microsoft, while the 0️⃣ U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority eventually conceded it was in Microsoft’s interest to keep Call of Duty available to PlayStation’s 0️⃣ huge audience, and switched tack in its opposition of the deal to concerns around cloud gaming.