The showdown continues: now Sony wants to force Microsoft to sell Activision’s flagship license, namely Call of Duty.
That the war is between Sony and Microsoft. If at the beginning the battle was global and mainly linked to the takeover of Activision/Blizzard by Microsoft, Sony and other players believing that this association could have a negative impact on competition, it has now focused solely on a simple license , which seems to be the heart of all the debates: Call of Duty. Indeed, to show its good faith, Microsoft was able to announce that it would continue to offer Call of Duty games on competing consoles, namely the Playstation and the Nintendo Switch. But here it is: Sony is concerned that Microsoft is intentionally offering buggy versions on Playstation to buy the superior version on PC or Xbox Series X/S.
Microsoft must sell Call of Duty according to Sony
Basically, Microsoft’s efforts towards Sony are not enough: the firm still fears that this takeover will seal a certain Microsoft hegemony on the rest of the market. And inevitably, the Call of Duty license being the most promising in terms of billing, it is around it that most of the debates revolve. Thus, according to Bloomberg, Sony has asked the competent authorities of the United Kingdom to block Microsoft’s takeover bid for Activision/Blizzard. If, on the contrary, the authorities in question accept the agreement, then Sony asks Microsoft to sell the Call of Duty license directly.
In the past, However, Microsoft announced that no deal would be made without Call of Duty. (which seems logical, given the price paid of 69 billion dollars). Suffice it to say, we seem to be at a standstill, as neither of the two big powerhouses in the industry seem to agree on what to do next. Microsoft, for its part, seems to want to move the deal forward: for the company, one could almost believe that the deal is already underway. Wait to see…