Sony signs deal with Microsoft to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation

Microsoft and Sony have signed a binding deal to keep Call of Duty on the PlayStation platform.

The deal comes after a federal appeals court on Friday rejected the Federal Trade Commission’s attempt to delay Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard on antitrust grounds.

Sony had previously hesitated in signing a deal and the terms of this deal were not disclosed. But Microsoft also signed 10-year deals with Nintendo and cloud gaming services.

Sony’s PlayStation chief Jim Ryan had previously resisted signing a deal after Microsoft first offered a 10-year contract last year. Instead, Sony appealed to regulators to block the merger on antitrust grounds.

In testimony and evidence offered in the antitrust case, Ryan had revealed that he was “pretty confident that we will continue to see Call of Duty on PlayStation for many years to come. Microsoft also offered on August 26, 2022 that PlayStation will release a variety of Activision games Ryan had said Phil Spencer’s offerings were “inadequate on many levels and failed to consider the impact on our gamers.”

Ryan also told Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick, “I don’t want another Call of Duty deal. I just want to block your merger.” Ryan testified that he thought the deal was anti-competitive. And Microsoft has said it won’t pull the game off the Sony platform because it makes no financial sense.

Now the British Competition and Markets Authority is the only remaining regulator standing in the way of the deal. The CMA and Microsoft are negotiating for a July 18 closing deadline.