PlayStation chief Jim Ryan has reportedly met with EU regulators to discuss Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that it intends to buy publishing giant Activision for just $70 billion. This will be the biggest acquisition in gaming history both financially and in terms of its impact. Activision has a large number of top developers in the industry and featured IPs such as World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Crash Bandicoot, and most importantly, Call of Duty. The FPS franchise is not only one of the biggest gaming franchises, but one of the biggest IP in the entire entertainment industry. It consistently makes billions of dollars and is a bestseller every year. As such, PlayStation has expressed concerns about what might happen if Microsoft decides to make Call of Duty on Xbox exclusive.
Xbox has noted that it plans to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, just like Minecraft, but there is still concern about making the series a first-party IP address. As mentioned by Dealreporter and Alpha searchPlayStation President Jim Ryan went to visit the European Commission on the 8th of September in Brussels. PlayStation has reportedly expressed concerns that Microsoft may “limit access” to the Call of Duty franchise if this deal goes through. European regulators have until November 8 to decide on the deal, per file on the regulator’s website. As of now, it’s not clear what way the regulators will swing, but Sony is certainly trying to defend its case as best it can.
Should the deal go through, Microsoft plans to bring Call of Duty to Xbox Game Pass. With Microsoft still planning to honor PlayStation’s marketing deal with the series over the next three years, it’s unclear if future Call of Duty games will come to Xbox Game Pass on day one like other first-party titles. Microsoft will likely have to wait for the PlayStation deal to expire before doing so.
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