(New York) Microsoft, which wants to get its hands on video game publisher Activision Blizzard, and Sony have reached a “binding agreement” to keep the famous game call of duty on Playstation consoles, the American giant announced on Sunday.
“We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and Playstation have signed a binding agreement to retain call of duty on Playstation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard,” tweeted Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft’s video game division.
“We look forward to that future where gamers around the world will have more choices to play their favorite games,” he said.
Microsoft, which markets the Xbox console, announced in January 2022 the acquisition of Activision Blizzard for a record $69 billion, but this project remains in the crosshairs of competition authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom. United.
Regulators are particularly concerned that the move could allow Microsoft to lock down access to Activision Blizzard’s games – which also include the highly lucrative World of Warcraft And candy Crush – on the platforms of its competitors.
“Since day one of this acquisition, we have worked to address the concerns of regulators, game platforms and publishers, and consumers,” Microsoft Chairman Brad Smith said on Sunday, retweeting Microsoft’s message. Phil Spencer.
“Even once we cross the finish line with the approval of this transaction, we will remain mobilized to ensure that call of duty remains available on more platforms and to more consumers than ever before,” he continued.
In December, Spencer said Microsoft was “committed to providing call of duty to Nintendo for ten years” after the integration of Activision.
He also told the Bloomberg agency that an agreement similar to that concluded with Nintendo had been offered to Sony, the maker of the PlayStation – the best-selling console on the market -, which strongly opposed the Microsoft transaction. Activision initially.
This acquisition would make Microsoft the world’s third largest video game player in terms of revenue behind Tencent and Sony, thus moving ahead of Apple.