Sony has not accepted 10-year Call of Duty deal, Microsoft indicates

The merger drama continues as Microsoft fires off a hail Mary pass to the end zone with a deal that can't be beat.

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Last night, Microsoft's Phil Spencer delivered a big surprise in the ongoing $68.7 billion Activision merger news cycle. Spencer confirmed that Microsoft has entered in a decade-long commitment to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo and Steam, two of Microsoft's largest direct competitors. Both Nintendo and Valve will be offered 10 years of access to Call of Duty. This deal directly counters one of Sony's core arguments against the merger concerning the $31 billion franchise being locked to Xbox platforms.

Microsoft has also offered the same 10-year deal to Sony, however it appears that Sony has yet to accept the offer or negotiate other terms. Microsoft's previous offer, which would have guaranteed only 3 years of post-contractual access to Call of Duty games up until 2027, was considered grossly inadequate by Sony.

In a recent Tweet, Microsoft President Brad Smith indicates that Sony has not responded to the deal:

"Our acquisition will bring Call of Duty to more gamers and more platforms than ever before. That's good for competition and good for consumers. Thank you, Nintendo. Any day Sony wants to sit down and talk, we'll be happy to hammer out a 10-year deal for PlayStation as well," Smith said.

Sony is now facing significant pressure on all sides to come up with more arguments and make a better case against the merger.

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Regulators at the CMA and European Commission have largely seemed to side with Sony and push back against Microsoft, however some of these key arguments--especially those regarding Call of Duty exclusivity--have been countered with these deals.

Now the real theories of harm are focused around multi-game subscriptions and cloud gaming. We've written coverage suggesting that Call of Duty will indeed be a tipping point for multi-game subscriptions and potentially push Xbox Game Pass beyond PlayStation Plus service revenues.