It will be sometime before the dust has settled on the recent Activision/Blizzard acquisition by Microsoft. Microsoft is set to purchase Activision/Blizzard in a history $68.7 Billion dollar deal. All of this follows Microsoft purchasing Zenimax for $7.6 Billion dollars. This means is for those looking in purchasing a console or upgrade you may need a moment to think.
The purchase of Activision Blizzard put questions on how various IPs would be affected. One of those IPs owned is Call of Duty. So how would this Activision Blizzard news affect that?
Where next is the question.
The deal itself is far from complete but even with Phil Spencer stating contract agreements will be honored it still has fans asking. However, a European retailer by the name of Cora added fuel to the fire. They have multiple stores in France, Belgium, Romania, and Luxembourg as well. Their actions could affect customers in their stores purchasing consoles.
The retailer placed a warning notice to gamers regarding the buyout that:
“Microsoft has bought Activision! Choose your machine carefully”. They also referenced Call of Duty specifically. This was spotted and reported by VGC.
It’s unclear at the time of writing if this is a company action or just actions undertaken by that store in question. However, parents or those not up to date with all the current information may be persuaded to get a Series X/S over this news. Also, note Phil Spencer said it was their “desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.”
Call of Duty is remaining on a PlayStation platform while also being an Xbox first-party IP wouldn’t be unusual. Minecraft is also in the same situation at the moment. We saw Minecraft Dungeons receive a multi-platform launch. What we don’t know is the length of any agreements Sony has regarding Call of Duty and what happens when they expire.
