Microsoft signs agreement to keep Call of Duty on Sony Playstation

▤ Summary

Microsoft Sunday said it has signed a binding agreement to keep the Call of Duty franchise on Sony Playstation platform following its planned acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The Washington-based software giant’s announcement seeks to address regulators’ concerns that the merger would make more Activision games — such as the massively popular shooting-game franchise — exclusive to Xbox. Raising apprehensions the Microsoft-Activision Blizzard deal, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had said that it would hurt consumers whether they played video games on consoles or had subscriptions because Microsoft would have an incentive to shut out rivals like Sony Group. To address concerns of the regulator, Microsoft had earlier agreed to license "Call of Duty" to rivals, including a 10-year contract with Nintendo, contingent on the merger closing. Microsoft is also facing hurdles from UK Competition and Markets Authority, which has agreed to give an unprecedented second chance to the software giant to come up with a remedy after vetoing the merger in April.

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