The ongoing battle to secure the acquisition of Activision Blizzard continues to get more and more interesting. We’re sure you are already well aware of the current situation with the acquisition by now. If not, Microsoft is attempting to acquire Activision Blizzard, while Sony has been trying to halt this from happening. Currently, investigations are going on to see if Microsoft will actually get the green light to acquire the company. Overall, the main focus of this acquisition is the potential for losing Call of Duty.
With Call of Duty being the particular IP that Sony is concerned with, Microsoft has attempted to ease the burden of losing the franchise. As a result, there have been attempts from Microsoft to offer a ten-year deal that would force Call of Duty games to be featured on PlayStation consoles. While that doesn’t seem to be agreed upon with Sony quite yet, there are two other competitor platforms that Microsoft just struck the same deal with. Both Nintendo and Steam agreed with the contract, which showcases that Microsoft won’t have complete exclusivity of the Call of Duty IP for at least ten years if this acquisition does go through.
But there is one particular individual that doesn’t feel the contract was even necessary. The president of Valve, Gabe Newell, offered a statement on the recent contract deals Microsoft sent out. Speaking with Kotaku, Gabe Newell noted that the contract was unnecessary for three reasons. For starters, Gabe says that Steam does not believe in requiring a partner to lock themselves in shipping games to Steam into the distant future. Secondly, Gabe says that Phil Spencer and the team over at Microsoft have always followed through with what they’ll do, and as a result, Steam trusts their intentions. Lastly, Gabe feels that Microsoft has all the motivation they need to be on the platforms where Call of Duty customers want.
We’re still unsure if the acquisition of Activision Blizzard will go in Microsoft’s favor. But it is clear that the company is trying to make the deal happen, even if it means ensuring the Call of Duty franchise will land on competitor platforms for an entire decade. At least with two competitors signing onto this contract, if the deal goes through might be helpful to showcase that there is not an immediate threat of losing out on a community of players for likely an entire console generation.