The deal is currently stuck with the FTC investigating the claims of potential antitrust intentions, where Microsoft is defending otherwise. Well, if the deal goes through sometime next year, Microsoft pledged to offer Activision’s popular game CoD to all other rivals for at least 10 years.
Call of Duty For All
Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard may seem like a regular business operation, but many doubted this was an anti-competitive move. Some of them are the market regulators of the US, UK, and EU, who’ve been investigating the deal to determine its scope for Microsoft. While they argue that Microsoft acquiring Activision will give it a highly competitive advantage – like restricting popular games like Call of Duty to self – Microsoft is arguing the other way. The company’s President, Brad Smith, defended the acquisition saying that it’s actually good for gamers. And FTC blocking it “would be a huge mistake” and would hurt the industry competition instead. He also said that games like CoD would be shared with all other platforms if the deal goes through. It’s now affirmed by Microsoft’s gaming head Phil Spencer, who promised to offer Call of Duty for Nintendo Switch for 10 years if their Activision Deal goes through.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 7, 2022 In an interview earlier, Spencer said that Microsoft treats Call of Duty like Minecraft and makes that available across platforms. The company has already pledged to continue CoD on Steam and PlayStation consoles – which Sony doesn’t believe yet. Well, we’ll soon see the result of this deal’s investigation by FTC, where the regulator will discuss the final parts of this acquisition in a closed-door meeting on Thursday, says The New York Times.
