Report: Microsoft Offered Sony the Right to Add Call of Duty to PS Plus - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 13 December 2022 / 2,176 Views
Microsoft has reportedly offered Sony the right to add Call of Duty to its PlayStation Plus subscription service if its deal to acquire Activision Blizzard is approved, according to Bloomberg.
This offer would be in addition to the guarantee that Microsoft will release Call of Duty games on PlayStation, Nintendo, and Steam for the next 10 years.
Regulators have expressed concerns the impact on subscription and streaming gaming services the deal would have and if Call of Duty would give Microsoft an advantage over its competitors in these newer sectors in gaming.
Microsoft doesn't view subscriptions as a standalone market in games and that it is just one business model. They did point out there are sub services, like PlayStation Plus, that are successful despite the fact they do not have new Call of Duty games.
Microsoft last week announced Microsoft has entered a 10-year commitment with Nintendo to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms if Microsoft's Activision Blizzard acquisition is approved.
The company offered the same deal to Valve to guarantee the series on Steam, however, Valve President Gabe Newell says he did not sign Microsoft's long-term Call of Duty commitment has he trusts their intentions.
"Microsoft offered and even sent us a draft agreement for a long-term Call of Duty commitment but it wasn’t necessary for us because a) we’re not believers in requiring any partner to have an agreement that locks them to shipping games on Steam into the distant future b) Phil and the games team at Microsoft have always followed through on what they told us they would do so we trust their intentions and c) we think Microsoft has all the motivation they need to be on the platforms and devices where Call of Duty customers want to be," said Newell at the time.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Worth noting this was included with the previous offer of a 10 year deal a few weeks ago that Sony has so far not accepted.
Sony is running out of excuses at this point, they previously said that one of their concerns was that Xbox would make CoD day one Gamepass while not putting it on PS Plus at the same time, but now we know that Xbox offered to let them pay for a day one PS Plus deal on CoD to ensure that that it goes into PS Plus at the same time it goes into Gamepass. Sony is running out of goal posts at this point.
Yea will be interesting to see what the FTC thinks about this. I'm guessing Sony is hoping that the FTC will force MS to give them more if not outright stop it (which I think is unlikely). It does make me wonder what MS thinks about their chances though because they just seem to keep offering more and more and more and releasing as much info as they can about how much they are offering. Makes me wonder if they are worried about losing this case to the FTC. I did read that the Biden admin planned on being more strict with acquisitions like this so maybe that's why MS keeps offering more.
What's sad is the regulatory process in the US is seeming more and more to be politically motivated rather than looking at what the deal offers in general. Brazil so far has been the most realistic when it comes to the outcome of the deal, but with the FTC voting 100% along party lines with a beyond weak argument and seeing Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren very publicly against the deal, even though the workers union Bernie backs is very much for the deal passing, just to say they went against big tech, is sad to see.
I mean, CoD on PS+ without having to pay for the marketing or even to add the games on the service?! That seems like a great deal.
I like both Bernie Sander and Elizabeth Warren so I would be interested to know why they are against the deal. I respect their opinions for the most part. I wont pretend to know enough to say whether this is good or bad. I do think at some point someone needs to step in and stop the consolidation that's happening right now. When that is? I don't know.
While that is a great deal the thing is Sony sees all of this as temporary. I'm almost positive that Sony is convinced that the minute MS can they will remove COD from their ecosystem. Whether that's true or not only MS really knows. I don't really blame Sony they will lose millions of users if MS removes COD from their ecosystem. IMO MS would be making a massive mistake if they don't remove COD from Playstation. It would give MS a massive upper hand and bring in millions to GP.
Indeed. And this is even after Bungie pulled Destiny 2 from Gamepass like 2 or 3 weeks before Sony announced that they where acquiring them. I bet part of the deal with Bungie was the game couldnt be on Gamepass but yet they cry about CoD not being on PS+ when Ms even offered them the deal to have it on PS+, they are showing themselfs to be some of the biggest hypocrites in gaming atm.
The excuses are running thin for Sony.
"Microsoft doesn't view subscriptions as a standalone market in games and that it is just one business model. They did point out there are sub services, like PlayStation Plus, that are successful despite the fact they do not have Call of Duty games."
You mean like Black Ops 3 which was offered on PS+ in June 2018 and which is current on the PS+ Collection?
EDIT: This article now says "...they do not have new Call of Duty games." Was this change vgcharts side or Bloomberg side?
10 yrs is nothing, if trying to make a game come anywhere near to call of duty. If anything the install base is going to get larger and after 10 yrs , microsoft pulls the plug and bring in millions of ps owners over to gamepass.
This will be fun until 2024 if not more, sony didnt accept this and they are desperated lol
In a few months they will offer it for free 😆
Sony does not bend the knee it seems. They want the deal to fail and Good
Oh god I hope not lol. Whether passed or blocked, I hope this is done in January when the CMA makes their decision. I'm leaning toward them blocking the deal. Then a domino effect from there.
It'll suck though for all the employees though that are getting their unions started and even having support from major workers unions only to have everything go back to the way it always has been.
