• Xbox head Phil Spencer has tweeted out that Microsoft have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty games on PlayStation once the Activision Blizzard deal is completed.
• It is not clear if the agreement will be a 10-year one, as Microsoft signed with Nintendo.
• Another piece of the puzzle has been addressed as Microsoft continues its pursuit of Activision Blizzard.

Last week saw much of the tech news dominated by the ramifications of the FTC’s loss against Microsoft in the United States. It has resulted in Microsoft entering negotiations with a UK regulator, and now the company has recorded another win as it has securing a binding agreement with PlayStation over Call of Duty games.

The franchise, which is developed and published by Activision Blizzard, has been a sticking point for PlayStation and regulators across the globe alike, but now Microsoft has a binding agreement in place that would make CoD games available on the PlayStation ecosystem once the Activision Blizzard deal is finalised.

Xbox head, Phil Spencer, confirmed the news in a tweet, but at the time of writing it remains to be seen what the particulars of the agreement are.

To that end it is unclear if the agreement will keep CoD games on PlayStation consoles for 10 years once the ActiBlizz deal is completed, which is what Microsoft hashed out with Nintendo a few months ago.

“From Day One of this acquisition, we’ve been committed to addressing the concerns of regulators, platform and game developers, and consumers. Even after we cross the finish line for this deal’s approval, we will remain focused on ensuring that Call of Duty remains available on more platforms and for more consumers than ever before,” added Microsoft vice chair and president, Brad Smith.

How this would impact the PlayStation ecosystem down the line is also unclear, with internal mails shared during the aforementioned hearings showing that Sony was not overly concerned with CoD exclusivity, which is contrary to what the company has stated publicly.

“Microsoft has only offered for Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation for three years after the current agreement between Activision and Sony ends. After almost 20 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation, their proposal was inadequate on many levels and failed to take account of the impact on our gamers,” PlayStation head Jim Ryan claimed last year.

While we do not know how long the binding agreement is for, it is likely longer than the three years mentioned above.

Either way, it looks like Microsoft has negotiated another hurdle as regards its acquisition of Activision Blizzard,

[Image – Photo by Omid Armin on Unsplash]