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Microsoft says a Sony deal with Activision stops Call of Duty coming to Game Laissez passer

(Image credit: Activision)

A footnote in Microsoft'south submission (opens in new tab) to the United kingdom'southward Competition and Markets Dominance (CMA) has permit skid the reason behind Call of Duty's absence from the Xbox Game Pass library: Sony and Activision Blizzard have a deal that restricts the games' presence on the service.

The footnote appears in a section detailing the potential benefits to consumers (from Microsoft's point of view) of the Activision Blizzard catalogue coming to Game Pass. In it, Microsoft says that it plans to honour "existing contractual obligations that Activision Blizzard may have with other platforms" in the outcome of its $68 billion acquisition (opens in new tab) going forward.

What existing contractual obligations are those? Why, ones like the "agreement betwixt Activision Blizzard and Sony," that places "restrictions on the ability of Activision Blizzard to identify COD titles on Game Pass for a number of years". It was obviously these kinds of agreements that Xbox'southward Phil Spencer had in mind (opens in new tab) when he spoke to Sony bosses in January and confirmed Microsoft's "intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard".

Unfortunately, the footnote ends there, so there'due south not much in the mode of detail about what these restrictions are or how long they'd remain in upshot in a potential post-conquering globe. Given COD's continued non-appearance on Game Pass, you've got to imagine the restrictions are adequately meaning if they're not an outright block on COD coming to the service. Either way, the simple fact that Microsoft is plainly willing to maintain any restrictions on its own power to put first-party games on Game Pass is rather remarkable, given that making Game Pass more appealing is one of the reasons for its acquisition spree.

The irony of Sony making deals similar this one while fretting about COD's future on PlayStation probably isn't lost on Microsoft'due south lawyers, which is no doubt office of why they brought it upwards to the CMA. While it's absolutely reasonable to worry near a world in which more and more properties are concentrated in the hands of atypical, behemothic megacorps, information technology does look a bit odd if you're complaining about losing access to games while stopping them from joining competing services.

We'll notice out if the CMA agrees when it completes its in-depth, "Stage ii" investigation (opens in new tab) into the Activision Blizzard acquisition, which is some way off yet. For now, nosotros'll have to content ourselves with poring over these kinds of corporate submissions for more interesting tidbits like this 1. So far, we've already learned that Microsoft privately has a gloomy forecast for the time to come of cloud gaming (opens in new tab), and that the visitor thinks Sony shouldn't worry so much since, hey, future COD games might be as underwhelming as Vanguard (opens in new tab). Who knows what we'll larn next?

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake ii on the family computer when he was far likewise young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained always since. Since and so, his writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far likewise much on everything from visual novels to Assassin'southward Creed. His virtually profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its upkeep. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.