Microsoft offers ‘Call of Duty’ to Nintendo, Sony for 10 years amid antitrust scrutiny of Activision deal

Microsoft has agreed to make all new Call of Duty games available on Nintendo Switch gaming consoles for the next 10 years and is offering a similar deal to Sony for PlayStation.  

“Microsoft has entered into a 10-year commitment to bring Call of Duty to Nintendofollowing the merger of Microsoft and Activision Blizzard King. Microsoft is committed to helping bring more games to more people — however, they choose to play,” Phil Spencer said in a Twitter post earlier today.  

A similar deal has been offered to Sony, according to Brad Smith, vice chairman and president of Microsoft.  

“We’ve offered Sony a 10-year contract to make each new Call of Duty release available on PlayStation the same day it comes to Xbox. We’re open to providing the same commitment to other platforms,” Smith said in an opinion post in the WSJ.  

Microsoft’s $68.7 billion bid to acquire Call of Duty publisher Activision Blizzard, announced in January, has hit a roadblock as regulators in several regions are worried that it might stifle competition in the console and cloud gaming segment.  

Though Microsoft has assured Sony and other gaming firms that it has no plans to block the availability of any Activision games on PlayStation or other platforms in the future, the regulators are worried about its long-term impact and are even considering blocking the deal. Microsoft had earlier assured that it would continue to offer new Call of Duty games on Sony consoles for three years beyond the current agreement. However, in September, Sony’s head of gaming division Jim Ryan had called the offer inadequate, according to a Reuters report.  

The US antitrust watchdog Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is planning to file a lawsuit to block Microsoft's bid to acquire Activision, Politico reported last month citing unnamed sources. 

In September, the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) expressed concern over the deal. “Microsoft could leverage Activision Blizzard’s games together with Microsoft’s strength across console, cloud, and PC operating systems to damage competition in the nascent market for cloud gaming services,” CMA said at that time, in a statement.  

Activision is one of the biggest gaming companies in the world and owns multiple game development companies such as Treyarch, Infinity Ward, and Raven Software. Its Call of Duty series is one of the most purchased games ever and has been played by over 400 million gamers worldwide. Activision also owns King Digital, the maker of the popular mobile game Candy Crush, which has been downloaded more than 2.7 billion times.