Microsoft stated on Sunday that Sony and Microsoft have reached a legally enforceable agreement that would keep Call of Duty available on PlayStation gaming platforms when the Activision Blizzard purchase is completed.
“We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said on Twitter Sunday.
Source: cnbc.com
The Call of Duty series, which is the most popular, is produced by Activision. If an Activision merger was authorized, regulators from every corner of the world have raised serious concerns about Microsoft’s potential dominance of the gaming industry.
Concerns that Microsoft might be allowed to develop games “private” to its systems and eliminate Sony from rivalry arose from the simple fact that Microsoft produces the Xbox, which is directly competing with Sony’s PlayStation.
Even though Microsoft and Sony aren’t specifying the term of the arrangement, the pact helps to some extent to allay such worries. A Microsoft representative said the agreement was set up for the long haul. Similar agreements have already been made by the business.
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Jim Ryan, the chief executive officer of Sony’s interactive entertainment section, has expressed worries about anti-competitive conduct. Ryan, whose holdings comprise PlayStation, stated he believed that the suggested Activision Blizzard purchase would hurt competitiveness in the videogame industry recorded in a videotape in June.
Brad Smith, vice president of Microsoft, stated on Twitter on Sunday that regardless of when a prospective merger closes,
Microsoft “will remain focused on ensuring that Call of Duty remains available on more platforms and for more consumers than ever before.”
Source: cnbc.com
The merger may not go through, but Microsoft and Activision’s chances are much stronger now that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) won’t be able to temporarily postpone the transaction. In July, the Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit in the federal court of San Francisco to block the transaction but was unable to persuade the jury that the merger would represent a significant anti-competitive threat.
The agreement was approved by the European Union’s regulatory bodies in May. The UK’s Competition and Markets Agency, which is which has compelled divestitures and halted other tech transactions, declared on Wednesday that it was ready to speak with Microsoft about the conditions of the transaction.
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