Microsoft Reportedly Offered Sony a 10-year Deal to Keep Call of Duty on PlayStation

Microsoft has reportedly offered Sony a deal that would allow keeping the Call of Duty series on PlayStation for a decade after the current agreement between Sony and Activision ends.

That's according to the New York Times report which claims that Microsoft made a 10-year offer to Sony on November 11. Sony declined to comment on the claim.

The possibility of Microsoft removing the Call of Duty franchise from PlayStation and other platforms has been one of the global regulators' key concerns about Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Currently, 16 competition watchdogs around the world are investigating the deal to decide if it complies with competition laws, and only two of them, Saudi Arabia and Brazil, have approved it so far. However, Microsoft told the New York Times that it expected the Serbian regulator to also do it shortly.

In September, it was reported that Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer made a commitment to PlayStation head Jim Ryan in a written letter promising to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for "several more years" beyond the existing deal if Microsoft's acquisition of Activision is approved by regulators.

Later Ryan commented on the offer saying that Microsoft promised to keep the shooter franchise on PlayStation for three years beyond the current Activision and Sony agreement and noting that the offer was "inadequate on many levels."

Last week, Spencer, for the first time, made an open commitment to Sony and regulators that the Call of Duty series will stay on PlayStation on a longer-term basis, probably referring to the 10-year offer mentioned by the New York Times.

Earlier, in the wake of global regulators scrutinizing Microsoft's Avitivision deal, Sony told the UK's competition regulator CMA that it believes some Call of Duty players might switch to Xbox, even if the series remains on PlayStation should the deal be approved by market regulators explaining that this could happen due to the increased differentiation between the Xbox and PlayStation versions of next Call of Duty games that could emerge in the future.

In September, the CMA revealed that it plans to extend its investigation into the deal and published a summary of the phase 1 decision where it noted that it "considers that Call of Duty is sufficiently important that losing access to it (or losing access on competitive terms) could significantly impact Sony’s revenues and user base."

Microsoft later called the CMA's concerns "misplaced" and added that the UK's regulator "adopts Sony's complaints without considering the potential harm to consumers."  

Now, speaking to the New York Times, Microsoft again addressed the CMA's decision saying that Sony misled the regulator by overstating "the importance of Call of Duty to its viability."

Jim Ryan, however, told the outlet that Microsoft's claims regarding Sony misleading regulators were "not true." The PlayStation boss added that Microsoft was "a tech giant with a long history of dominating industries" and that "it is highly likely that the choices gamers have today will disappear if this deal goes ahead."

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