All Call of Duty games can now be purchased once more via Steam. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (2019) (test), Black Ops: Cold War and Vanguard (test), which were previously only offered via Activision’s Blizzard app, are on offer once more. Exclusivity efforts by large publishers have thus come to an end for the time being.
Valve’s position in the game store market has been a game publishers have been trying to break out of for years following Epic Games’ push. At the height of the Epic campaign in 2019, Ubisoft sold most of the blockbusters via Epic and Uplay, and in the same year Activision relied entirely on the Blizzard app, with which Blizzard previously only delivered its own games such as World of Warcraft, Diablo and Overwatch. Microsoft, on the other hand, began offering Xbox games in increasing numbers via Steam during the same period, bucking the apparent trend.
Valve itself did not comment on the development at the time and waited. In the end, the results prove the Seattle company right: Ubisoft returned to Steam at the end of 2022, and Activision is now finally sealing the end of its own shop ambitions. The burial of the exclusive strategy was announced at the end of last year when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was sold on Steam.
Activision also gives up
Activision is now filling the last gaps. All three titles newly included in the shop offer will also be sold at a discount of 50 percent until March 23, which reduces the purchase price to around 30 euros. Vanguard, set in World War II, is one of the worse offshoots, while the Modern Warfare reboot and Black Ops Cold War were better received. Patriotic non-stop action without profundity is also part of the standard repertoire there.
Ratings are currently “balanced”, which is primarily due to errors when starting the campaigns. According to reviews, this does not work for every user, which is currently causing displeasure.
Activision acquisition as a good reason
Exclusivity hasn’t had the desired effect for Activision either. In this case, however, there is a second, political aspect: Since the takeover of the publisher by Microsoft is viewed critically by antitrust authorities, a broader sale of the games should allay concerns. This point of view makes sense: For this reason, Microsoft made offers to third parties that guarantee the Call of Duty series for at least ten years. Nintendo and Nvidia have responded, and Valve may now do the same. A positive external effect is created one way or another and fits into the concept; Activision and Microsoft have been struggling so much over the past few months to present themselves as open and pro-competitive.
