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A new report from Reuters states that Microsoft will be offering Sony a potential concession\u00a0of a 10-year Call of Duty licensing deal<\/strong> to push the Activision Blizzard merger through. This is according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation. If this sounds similar, it\u2019s because The New York Times reported on November 11 that Microsoft had made the same offer to Sony earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Sony may not accept the 10-year licensing deal concession<\/h2>\n

While the Reuters article doesn\u2019t specify that the 10-year licensing deal would be for the Call of Duty franchise (as it could have been for all Activision Blizzard games as a whole), Game Developer reports that it is. This would follow the original report from The New York Times as well. Xbox boss Phil Spencer said on November 15 that it would be willing to commit to releasing Call of Duty on PlayStation consoles for a \u201clonger term\u201d to appease regulators.<\/p>\n

The regulator in question this time around is the European Commission, which started its investigation into the Microsoft Activision merger at the beginning of November. The agency has a deadline of January 2023 to offer a formal list of competition concerns in the form of a a statement of objection. Microsoft\u2019s concession of a 10-year licensing deal is meant to be a pre-emptive strike on this statement of objection to shorten the regulatory process as much as possible.<\/p>\n

However, there\u2019s not yet word if Sony would be willing to accept the concession in the first place, given that the company has welcomed investigations into the merger in the past. Also, if Sony were to accept the deal, once the 10-year contract is over, there\u2019s no guarantee that it will be renewed or if it will even be offered again.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n