Microsoft Confirms 10 Years Of Offers To Maintain Call Of Duty On PlayStation

JAKARTA - Last month, the Xbox maker told the New York Times that it had offered Sony a 10-year Call of Duty deal. Then on Monday, December 5, Microsoft President Brad Smith confirmed this in an opinion written for the Wall Street Journal.

Smith has also provided details on the company's offer to keep the Call of Duty franchise on PlayStation for at least a decade.

Sony has emerged as Sony's tougher opponent [acquisition]. Sony's main potential anti-competitive risk is that Microsoft will stop making Call of Duty available on PlayStation. But it will be economically irrational," Smith said, citing VGC.

According to him, an important part of Blizzard's Call of Duty revenue comes from selling games on PlayStation. Given the popularity of the cross-play, Smith claims it will be a disaster for the Call of Duty and Xbox franchise itself.

That's why we offered Sony a 10-year contract to make every new Call of Duty release available on the PlayStation on the same day as the Xbox. We are open to providing the same commitment to other platforms and making them legally enforceable by regulators in the US, UK and EU," he concluded.

The European Commission and the UK's Competition and Markets Authority recently launched an in-depth investigation into Microsoft's acquisition plan, while the FTC is claimed to be able to file an antitrust lawsuit in a bid to block Activision's deal.

Smith said suing Microsoft in a bid to stop the acquisition "would be a huge mistake" that would hamper competition and have a negative impact on consumers and game developers.