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| Microsoft offers Sony a deal for Call of Duty |
Microsoft President Brad Smith said that his company offered its competitor Sony a 10-year deal to launch any new version of Call of Duty on the PlayStation gaming platform as well as the Xbox platform. A subsidiary of Microsoft.
The US tech giant is hoping the move will allay concerns from regulators and competitors about a potential monopoly over its proposed $69 billion acquisition of Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard.
Last month, Politico reported that the US Federal Trade Commission may file an antitrust lawsuit to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision.
In response, Smith published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Monday defending the acquisition as "good for players" and criticizing potential FTC lawsuits. "That would be a huge mistake," he said of the reported lawsuit. It would hurt competition, consumers, and thousands of game developers. "
Regulators in the European Union and the United Kingdom have launched antitrust investigations into the proposed acquisition of Microsoft to determine whether the deal would harm competition. The European Union fears that Microsoft will ban competitors from games like Call of Duty.
After Microsoft announced its intention to acquire Activision in January last year, Sony's stock fell amid fears that PlayStation would be denied Activision games. But Microsoft has since tried to allay those concerns.
Smith said any decision not to make Call of Duty available on PlayStation would be "financially irrelevant" as a large portion of the game's revenue comes from sales to Sony's gaming platform.
He added, "As games spread across platforms, it would also be disastrous for Call of Duty and Xbox itself, alienating millions of gamers."
Smith also said, "That's why we've offered Sony a 10-year deal to make every new Call of Duty series available on PlayStation and also on Xbox. We're willing to make the same commitment to other platforms that US, UK and EU regulators must legally enforce."