‘Call Of Duty’ Will Be Licensed To Sony for 10 Years

According to the latest reports, Microsoft claims to license Activision Blizzard’s “Call of Duty” (CoD) to Sony for 10 years. A document published by the regulator has revealed that this step has been taken to address all the concerns that have been raised by Britain over its $69 billion takeover of the game’s maker.

Sony To License Call Of Duty For Coming Years

The point worth mentioning here is that Microsoft also struck a similar deal with Nvidia Corp’s (NVDA.O) gaming platform last month. Microsoft President Brad Smith even hopes that rival Sony which has strongly opposed the takeover may consider doing the same type of deal.

Back in February, Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) stated that the deal could end up weakening the rivalry between Microsoft’s Xbox and Sony’s PlayStation, and even stifle competition in cloud gaming. In addition to that, it was suggested that structural remedies could be required to allay its concerns together with divesting the business associated with the highly anticipated Call of Duty.

As a response, Sony stated that the package of remedies it would have offered protected all CoD players in Britain and even provided substantial advantages to consumers and developers. Microsoft stated:

“Microsoft is proposing a package of licensing remedies which (i) guarantee parity between the PlayStation and Xbox platforms in respect of CoD and (ii) ensure wide availability of CoD and other Activision titles on cloud gaming services,”

However, the point worth mentioning here is that Sony rejected Microsoft’s proposals, stating that the only way to preserve competition in consoles and cloud gaming was to block the deal or subject it to a structural remedy, for instance, making Microsoft sell CoD. Reports claim that Microsoft will secure EU antitrust approval with its offer of licensing deals to rivals which will help it to clear a major hurdle. The CMA is expected to rule on the deal on April 22.

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