Thanks to the documents sent by Microsoft at the English antitrust we learn that it was the Redmond company that decided do not continue the partnership co-marketing with Activision Blizzard for call of Duty in 2015. Subsequently, as we know, Sony PlayStation took over and therefore also the exclusive contents of the games in the series, until then available on Xbox consoles, arrived on PS4 and PS5.
For the uninitiated, in 2010 Microsoft and Activision had signed an agreement to make some content of the games in the series an Xbox time exclusive. The partnership ended in 2015and from Black Ops 3 onwards it was Sony PlayStation that grabbed temporary or total exclusive content.
Thanks to the documentation sent to the CMA, we learn that the collaboration between Xbox and Call of Duty ended by the will of Microsoft itself, however for unknown reasons.
“When Xbox decided not to continue the Call of Duty co-marketing deal in 2015, it simply found other ways to market and promote its platform,” the document reads.
This detail was revealed to demonstrate that as Microsoft has found other ways to increase the value of its console even without Call of Duty exclusive content, “Sony, as the console market leader with an extensive catalog of first-party and third-party exclusives -party, is in an even better position to do the same,” should the acquisition of Activision Blizzard go through.
In the same section of the document, Microsoft also states that compared to when it had close relationships with Activision Blizzard (2005 – 2015), the Call of Duty brand had much greater relevance than today.
So the indirect question and answer continues between Sony and Microsoft regarding the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, with the bone of contention apparently represented mostly by Call of Duty.
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