2023-07-17 18:05:02
Game news Diablo, Starcraft, Tony Hawk, Crash Bandicoot… Xbox exclusives soon? We have the answer
Published on 07/17/2023 at 20:05
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After months of discord around Call of Duty, an agreement has been reached between Xbox and PlayStation. But what about Activision Blizzard’s other flagship licenses? The veil is finally lifted.
Call of Duty, the point of contention in the takeover of Activision Blizzard
You couldn’t have missed the legal soap opera of the last few months. Soap opera which has finally had the right to an outcome in recent days. It all started in January 2022, when Microsoft announced its intention to buy the giant Activision Blizzard for the modest sum of 68.7 billion dollars (about 60 billion euros). In the industry, this news had the effect of a bomb. Not only is the amount historic, but with this takeover Microsoft is offering itself one of the biggest boxes in the industry. After the acquisition of Zenimax (Bethesda, Arkane…), some even fear the emergence of a monopoly in favor of Microsoft. Inevitably, this does not please its big competitor Sony. Especially since in the catalog of Activision Blizzard, we find one of the most lucrative licenses in the world of video games: Call of Duty.
The shooter franchise has been at the heart of the various lawsuits that have taken place in recent months. ‘The fear of opponents of the takeover was, among other things, that Call of Duty would become an Xbox exclusive. ‘But after Microsoft’s victory in the court decision against the FTC (the competition body in the United States), an agreement was reached between Sony and Xbox. For a priori 10 years (info from The Verge), Microsoft is committed to releasing the next Call of Duty games on PlayStation consoles. “We look forward to contributing to a future in which gamers have more choices for playing their favorite games.” enthused Phil Spencer, the boss of Xbox, on Twitter. But he has a but!
And Diablo, Overwatch, Tony Hawk and the others?
As the journalist from The Verge, the agreement says some other interesting things. Certainly, the information on Call of Duty is important but the holes in the contract are at least as important. This is indeed the only license covered by the agreement. A priori, nothing prevents Microsoft from keeping for Xbox consoles all the other Activision Blizzard licenses, from Tony Hawk to Diablo via Overwatch or Crash Bandicoot. The absence of these licenses in the agreement between Microsoft and Sony is all the more worrying since a few months back things were very different.
Initially, Phil Spencer had indeed proposed to his counterpart at Sony, Jim Ryan, to continue releasing on PlayStation consoles “all existing console titles from Activision at Sony, including future releases of the Call of Duty franchise or any other current Activision franchise, through December 31, 2027.” PlayStation therefore seems to have lost to the change in history. Would Xbox hold a grudge following all these lawsuit cases? Yes and no, because as far as Call of Duty is concerned, the agreement mentions a longer and therefore more advantageous contract. For the rest, we will therefore have to wait to see what Microsoft has decided. But the box can legally decide to make other Activision Blizzard licenses Xbox exclusives. Case to follow.
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