The Microsoft company has released details of Sony’s agreement with Activision Blizzard. The Japanese corporation, as it turns out, was supposed to block the possibility of Call of Duty games appearing in the Xbox Game Pass service “for several years.”
The issue was made public by an insider nicknamed Klobrille, who is considered well-informed in the circles of Xbox and Microsoft-owned studios. The comprehensive document is the Redmont-based giant’s response to the British Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) allegations.
It appears Sony is blocking Call of Duty titles being on Xbox Game Pass for "a number of years".
"The agreement between Activision Blizzard & Sony includes restrictions on the ability to place Call of Duty titles on Game Pass for a number of years".https://t.co/FiAR9kquE7 pic.twitter.com/8ygTAOmEJz
— Klobrille (@klobrille) October 18, 2022
The document cited raises a comment on Phil Spencer’s tweet from earlier this year, when the Xbox division chief announced that Microsoft would not remove Call of Duty from PlayStation consoles after the Activision takeover and would respect the agreement signed between Sony and Activision before the merger.
“The agreement between Activision Blizzard and Sony includes a restriction prohibiting the publisher from adding Call of Duty games to the Game Pass service for several years,” reads the statement.
Thus, it would seem that even if the deal between Activision and Microsoft proceeds, the iconic shooter’s unveilings will not appear in the “green” subscription anytime soon anyway, now that the company has promised to respect the terms of the existing agreement.
We will remind you that British officials refrained from approving Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision and ordered an extended investigation into the matter.
They cited concern that the acquisition of such a large publisher and its catalog of games would result in Microsoft’s monopoly in the console market. Indeed, the Redmont-based giant labeled the decision baseless and grounded in Sony’s “calculating” statements.
