The end of the festival of mutual accusations. Microsoft and Sony signed a giant merger agreement

Microsoft is doing its best to get the antitrust authorities to agree to a gigantic, $69 billion merger of the company with Activision Blizzard. Last Wednesday, the giant managed to convince a US court that the merger is not a threat to the free market, and now Microsoft has come to an agreement with Sony. It was the Japanese who protested loudest against the historic transaction.

Microsoft made a deal with Sony. The contract is valid for 10 years

As Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming, has just confirmed, Sony has accepted the proposed agreement, under which Microsoft agreed to publish the Call of Duty series of games also on PlayStation consoles for the next 10 years. As a reminder, the Japanese were afraid that after taking over Activision Blizzard and gaining control over the series, Microsoft would make it an exclusive title for their own Xbox consoles. This fear was also one of the arguments used by Sony during attempts to block the transaction.

We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to a future where gamers around the world will have more choice to play their favorite games

Spencer wrote on Twitter.

Sony has been refusing to agree to Microsoft’s proposal for months

As previously promised, the contract will be valid for the next 10 years and has been limited to the Call of Duty series only. So it does not apply to other titles that Activision Blizzard publishes today. In March, Microsoft concluded a similar agreement with the Taiwanese Ubitus (agreed for the Asian company to stream production for 10 years, including on Nintendo Switch and other portable consoles). Previously, the manufacturer of Windows signed similar agreements, including with Nintendo and Nvidia, which was also an attempt to put pressure on Sony and gain the favor of antitrust authorities around the world. For months, however, Sony consistently refused to agree to Microsoft’s proposal.

The Verge reminds that in January 2022, when Microsoft announced its desire to merge with Activision Blizzard, Sony was offered to keep “all existing titles” of Activision on PlayStation consoles, but only until the end of 2027. The Japanese managed to win a few extra years (a decade from the moment of taking over the company, i.e. probably until 2033), but the contract was limited only to the Call of Duty series. This is of great importance, so new games in this series will also be available on the upcoming PlayStation 6.

The agreement ends Microsoft and Sony’s months-long accusation festival. It also takes another step on the way to finalizing the merger. who feared that the merger would make Microsoft a monopolist in the gaming market (in fact, the company would be one of the three main forces in the industry). In recent days, the courts have rejected two more FTC appeals against that verdict and the local antitrust agency is still blocking the transactions, and Microsoft is waiting for an appeal against this decision.