It was reported that in order to promote the approval of the $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft agreed to authorize rival Sony to sell the Call of Duty game in the game subscription service model.
Microsoft previously publicly announced that it had proposed a $1 billion deal to Sony so that Call of Duty could run on the latter’s PlayStation console. The proposal also includes the right to sell the game on the PlayStation Plus service, which gives users access to a bundle of games for a monthly fee, the people said. But Sony has not yet accepted the offer.
Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass, the market leader in video game and cloud gaming subscriptions, is the biggest concern of regulators in the US, UK and Europe. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said last week it planned to block the deal because it would “allow Microsoft to overwhelm the Xbox game console and its fast-growing competitor in the subscription content and cloud computing businesses.”
Cloud gaming is sold to users as part of Microsoft’s Game Pass tier, but the service is still in its infancy. However, some in the industry expect the technology to eventually reduce the importance of gaming consoles because it can stream certain games to any device, from tablets to phones. Subscriptions run about $10 to $15 a month and provide access to a huge number of games, compared to about $70 for individual game purchases.
Sony has yet to comment. Microsoft declined to comment on the detailed terms of the Sony deal proposal.
Sony has been a staunch opponent of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, accusing the software giant of trying to “lock many consumers inside the Xbox” and using the company’s other products to “thwart a critical period in the development of cloud gaming.”. Analysts questioned whether Sony’s criticism of Microsoft may have created a sense of insecurity because it lags behind Microsoft in diversification. Sony usually releases its homemade games for PlayStation first, and compatibility with other platforms comes much later.
Launched in 2017, Game Pass has experienced rapid growth and now has more than 25 million subscribers, far surpassing Sony’s similar service. Microsoft added cloud gaming capabilities to Game Pass in 2020, and more than 20 million players have experienced the service. Microsoft has said that this cloud gaming subscription service is critical to reaching its goal of reaching 3 billion global gamers. Microsoft’s vision is to allow players to run games on multiple platforms including Windows, Xbox and smartphones.
Microsoft last week struck a 10-year licensing deal for Call of Duty with Nintendo. But Microsoft declined to say whether the agreement covers subscription services.
