On Tuesday, Microsoft shocked the world by announcing their intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for the nominal fee of $68.7 billion, their biggest ever purchase. Since then, chaos has ensued. With press outlets and every farmer and their dog on Twitter having something to say about the subject.
Activision Blizzard announcement effect on the Stock Market
More importantly for the wealthy minority, certain stocks tumbled and others increased in valuation. Indeed, Sony’s stock tumbled the largest amount since the global financial crash in 2008. The fear that the bestselling annual PlayStation game potentially becoming exclusive to it’s main competitor being the driver of this. EA, Ubisoft, Square Enix and others however, had significant pumps.
On Thursday 20th of January, Sony released the following statement “We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multi-platform.” This was followed up with a Tweet from Phil Spencer, newly promoted CEO of Gaming at Microsoft.
In my cynical mind, these statements were made in outcry from Sony executives to prevent their stock price from tumbling any further. But if you really read what Phil Spencer has written, it is still quite vague and does not confirm anything, not really.
In his Tweet, Phil Spencer spoke of his ‘desire’ to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Many will see this as confirmation that Call of Duty will continue to release on the PlayStation platform. While I don’t necessarily agree with this, I don’t disagree either. I simply think it is not as cut-and-dry as that. As much as Microsoft and Xbox talk this big ‘we are all friends’ talk, they are still competitors and I just can’t see a world where they are not getting something in return, if Call of Duty is to remain multiplatform past contractual obligations.
Looking up ‘desire’ in the dictionary and Call of Duty Warzone or all of Call of Duty?
We will not truly find out about what is happening with exclusivity for some 18 months. For now I think the real questions we should be asking are, ‘What could Phil want in return?’, ‘What are Sony willing to give back?’ And, ‘What constitutes Call of Duty remaining on PlayStation to Phil Spencer?’ The answers to these are ultimately what will decide the exclusivity outcome. Let’s also remember here, Microsoft won’t want to strong-arm Sony too much. Sony are a customer of Microsoft via Azure, and this came from the Phil Spencer relationship. And it is probably quite a big customer too, one Microsoft will not want to upset. With regards to potential outcomes, my top guesses/theories I have seen/heard recently on what will happen are:
- To get Xbox Game Pass on PlayStation. We all know this is what Microsoft want, but I have to say, I don’t see Sony going for this one… The reason Sony want to keep hold of Call of Duty so bad is because of the software sales. Having Game Pass on PlayStation could reduce massively, the number of people who buy it on that system.
- To get Sony to drop cross play fees. While this is a good point, I hardly see this being enough. Microsoft would still be doing Sony a huge favour here even with the fees disappearing completely.
- Keeping Warzone multiplatform but Call of Duty mainline games release as exclusive. I see why some will see this as a strong debate, especially considering the way Microsoft handled the Bethesda acquisition. The only argument I have against this is if Microsoft hurt Sony’s business that much, will Sony take their Azure business to Google or Amazon. Partnerships Microsoft will want to avoid seeing.
- (My theory) Multiplayer Call of Duty remains multiplatform, releasing as a $35 game, but Call of Duty campaigns will be exclusive to platforms where Game Pass exists. This I can see happening. Call of Duty’s success comes from it’s online multiplayer and having huge player counts. If that is taken away from PlayStation completely, you will undoubtbly sell more Xboxes, but it will take time to get that player base back. Such a move could kill the game.
I think Phil Spencer and Microsoft have to handle this whole thing very carefully. Legal issues they will face aside, there is a huge culture issue at Activision Blizzard they need to overcome, with the whole world watching. They have to keep Sony happy enough, and have to be careful not to upset others they have purchased who might beg the question, ‘They get to release their games multi-platform, why can’t we?’ Then you have a new problem on your hands…
Ultimately, no one knows the finer details of what is going to happen except for a few people within Microsoft and potentially Activision Blizzard and Sony. The rest of us are going to just have to keep debating it on Twitter for the next 18 months or so. I’d like to see Call of Duty stay on PlayStation, at least for multiplayer game modes. Gamerhub will be sure to keep an eye on future developments in this area so stay tuned. To read the Gamerhub report on the news breaking follow the link here.
