Microsoft’s battle to take over Activision Blizzard brings unexpected results. The tech giant cannot agree on a takeover with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is blocking a deal worth almost $70 billion. Now, during the trial between the government agency and Microsoft, the latter revealed when the next generation of consoles will appear on the market.
Microsoft has revealed the premiere of new consoles. We will wait 5 years for them
The court documents from the trial contain information from Microsoft that Call of Duty games will be released not only on the current, but also on the next generation of Sony consoles. The manufacturer of Windows agreed to release the series on competition devices (including PlayStation) for the next 10 years from the purchase of Activision Blizzard. The company from Redmond clarified that it expects the premiere (which the notes call the “expected initial period”) of new consoles in 2028, which means that the next games from the Call of Duty series will also hit PlayStation 6. Such a commitment from Microsoft is intended to convince authority to authorize the purchase of the publisher. Opposing the deal, Sony argued earlier that – if it goes through – players will never launch Call of Duty on PS6.
Information about the premiere seems very likely. Each next generation of consoles usually appears on the market about 7-8 years after the premiere of the previous one. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One debuted in 2013, and PS5 and Xbox Series X/S in 2020 – almost exactly 7 years later. The calculations are also in line with those previously presented by Sony. In November last year, the Japanese submitted documents to the British Competition Authority (again in the case against the takeover of Activision Blizzard) showing that they expect the release of more consoles in 2027 or 2028.
Microsoft wants to spend 70 billion dollars, but offices say “no”
Microsoft announced its intention to buy Activision Blizzard in January 2022, declaring that it would pay a trifle of $68.7 billion for the transaction. However, antitrust authorities in many countries have serious doubts about it, because after the purchase, Microsoft would become the third (after Tencent and Sony) largest game publisher in the world. but the deal is still being blocked by the UK and the US Federal Trade Commission.
Source: Gazeta
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