LogInThe campaign didn't attract more users to the platform.
In 2018, Activision decided to make the PC version of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 exclusive to its Battle.net platform, hoping to get more people to use it. Four years later, the company changed its mind and released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II on Steam.
Turns out, its plan to boost Battle.net this way was a "resounding failure" as its monthly active users stay more or less the same, according to the new findings revealed after the end of the FTC vs. Microsoft hearing concerning the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft.
"Activision's attempt to take PC digital sales of Call of Duty exclusive to its Battle.net platform was a resounding failure," says the document. "Before 2018, Activision sold digital versions of PC Call of Duty titles on Valve's successful Steam platform. In 2018, Activision decided to take the game off of Steam and make it exclusively available on Battle.net – largely in an effort to attract users to, and grow, Activision's own platform. Battle.net's monthly active users ('MAUs') remained relatively flat during the period when it had exclusive access to digital sales of Call of Duty on PC, from 2018 through 2022."
Considering how popular the CoD franchise is (so popular that a million PlayStation users play it exclusively), this is pretty surprising.
Naturally, Microsoft presented this document not because it wanted to bash Activision but because it tries to prove that if a platform has the game, it doesn't mean it'll become successful. What it means is even if Microsoft makes CoD Xbox exclusive (which the company swears isn't going to happen), it won't harm the platform. Microsoft brings up Nintendo Switch as an example – the console hasn't seen a CoD game since 2013, although this might change.
Screenshot: Kotaku
While the hearing has ended, the legal battle is still on. On Thursday, the FTC appealed the court's decision to deny its request for a preliminary injunction. At the same time, Microsoft needs to deal with the UK's CMA.
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