There is plenty of attention over Microsoft’s purchase bid for Activision Blizzard. For a whopping $69 billion, the purchase has been rough for Microsoft. The company has been dealing with regulators, and one very vocal company seeking this purchase doesn’t go through. If you haven’t been keeping tabs on this purchase, Sony has been pulling out all the stops to prevent this deal from going through. Now with both companies dealing with CMA regulators, new responses have surfaced online from Microsoft. Again, the focus here is on Call of Duty and the potential changes it could bring once Microsoft gains control of the IP.
It’s been stated multiple times now that Microsoft has no interest in making Call of Duty an exclusive IP for Xbox. You won’t see future Call of Duty games become only available on Microsoft’s Xbox platforms or the PC. But at the same time, you wouldn’t see exclusive deals come up that would provide content that’s locked away behind a specific platform. So the same Call of Duty experience you’ll get on Xbox will be the same on PC, PlayStation, and even the Nintendo Switch. Today we’re getting some new interesting tidbits from this regulator discussion. One of which is the fear that Microsoft will raise the price for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.
The thought is that Microsoft would raise the price because Call of Duty will be included in the service. This would also allow the company to help offset the cost of the acquisition. However, the CMA responses PDF that came up online suggests that Game Pass is not going to see any price increase. That would be similar to how the Xbox Game Pass subscription remained the same after Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media. Microsoft also feels that this would hurt the subscription as Call of Duty only releases once a year, and some players will lose interest after a few months. Likewise, some subscribers are not even interested in Call of Duty, which would prompt several users to drop the service if the price was raised.
But to make things a bit more equal, there was also a statement that any Call of Duty game in a Microsoft multi-game subscription is eligible for Sony’s multi-game subscription service. This would be available at the same time and same duration. So we could also see Call of Duty games launch on the PlayStation Plus service if this deal goes through. Although, we’re still waiting on the final court rulings on whether this acquisition will go through. Despite these moves, Sony recently stated that Microsoft would leave bugs in the PlayStation version of Call of Duty games.
