The acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft has stirred up a lot of controversy in gaming land. There is a lot of uncertainty about the Call of Duty series on the PlayStation 5, for example. But Sony thinks otherwise.
A spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that Sony expects Microsoft to stick to its contractual agreements. So that would mean that Call of Duty will still appear on the PlayStation 5 for the time being.
Call of Duty on the PlayStation 5
It could well be that agreements were made in the past between Sony and Activison. This could mean that Sony has been willing to put money into marketing the Call of Duty series and as a result the series will appear on the PlayStation 5 at least until a certain year. Perhaps also with certain exclusive content for gamers on Sony’s platform. Microsoft would have to abide by that kind of contract. That’s how Deathloop appeared exclusively on Sony’s console and PC late last year. That even though Microsoft had acquired Bethesda in early 2021. And this year the game Ghostwhire Tokyo is still getting the same treatment.
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Sony has published a first statement after Microsoft’s announcement of acquiring Activision-Blizzard
‘We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform.’https://t.co/r5qqBtz89E pic.twitter.com/l1ifTEOOG5
– Nibel (@Nibellion) January 20, 2022
The question, of course, is how long those agreements will last. The full acquisition of Activision Blizzard by Microsoft is not expected until the end of this year, although it could continue through 2023. At the end of this year, in that regard, it would make sense for Call of Duty to still be on the PlayStation 5. And next year as well. But what will happen after that, that really remains to be seen.
Sony’s value drops
In addition to Microsoft paying handsomely for Activision Blizzard, Sony is feeling the pain on another front. Following the news, the company’s stock price dropped so much that it lost $20 billion in value. So for that, the company would sell a lot of copies of the PlayStation 5 again to recoup that.
