While fans cheer and/or lament what seems to be the imminent Microsoft acquisition of Activision Blizzard King, there may be reason to lament the finer details, particularly if you are a Call of Duty fan.
On pages 23 to 26 of the document titled MICROSOFT’S RESPONSE TO THE CMA’S QUESTIONS AT THE REMEDIES HEARING, dated March 6, 2023, Microsoft discusses their actual proposal for a third party assessor.
The whole process may be worth reviewing, as CMA could adopt it as how they ensure parity between Microsoft and Sony platforms, but there’s a particular section in page 24 that hypothesizes Call of Duty games could get delayed.
Here is what the paragraph says:
“The Parity Decision may impose reasonable conditions which Microsoft must comply with before, or (if the Adjudicator considers it appropriate) as soon as reasonably practicable after, launching the CoD title. In serious cases of non- compliance, the Adjudicator will have the power to delay the release of the CoD title until appropriate steps have been taken to ensure compliance.”
Upon Microsoft’s suggestion, they want to give the third party assessor, here named the adjudicator, the choice to delay Call of Duty games. In specific, this is a tool of last resort they can utilize if they feel a Call of Duty game has not been developed with the parity that they have come to expect for Microsoft and Sony platforms.
You can look at the document yourself, but to be clear, this Adjudicator will only look at that parity between Microsoft and Sony platforms, not Nintendo or cloud gaming. That doesn’t mean Microsoft can’t be held accountable if they break their word to those companies. There may be different arrangements with those companies and platforms since Microsoft pre-emptively signed deals with them. In any case, Microsoft is only proposing this Assessor process between themselves and Sony.
But the potential consequences of this could be clearly far reaching. We could see Call of Duty games slated for November or December delayed to January to March for the next year. And is it possible Call of Duty games get cancelled if there are technical or other reasons that Microsoft can’t comply with these parity requirements?
Perhaps we take it for granted, but those kinds of decisions are made when game studios make video games. Big companies like Activision aren’t necessarily being ‘greedy’ or ‘selfish’ when they decide to add or remove platforms for their big AAA games.
If those games are going to be successful, they have to consider if they can deliver games people want to play. Any condition that hampers that will also steer if they will bring a game to all platforms on launch, or if a version on a single platform gets delayed.
