We continue to learn details about Microsoft’s convoluted purchase of Activision, with Sony as one of the main protagonists in the whole affair. We know that Microsoft has offered Sony to have Call Of Duty for the next 10 years, which Sony has so far rejected.
Sony doesn’t seem to trust Microsoft with the deals, as he pointed out, Microsoft has skipped several deals in the past, one of them is Windows related and another is about buying Bethesda and the exclusivity of studio games such as star field oh red fall.
Sony seems wary of Microsoft offers
- First, the European Commission found in 2004 that Microsoft abused its dominant Windows operating system by depriving rivals of much-needed interoperability information. The European Commission ordered Microsoft to provide information to rivals for a reasonable fee, an order Microsoft agreed to follow. It would be essentially the same kind of promise that Microsoft would make to license Activision products to rivals. Microsoft then violated the EC order by demanding unreasonable royalties and patent payments for its interoperability information, forcing the EC to fine the software company $1.3 billion.
- Microsoft’s conduct in connection with the ZeniMax acquisition provides further evidence as to why behavioral engagement should be viewed with caution. When Microsoft offered to acquire ZeniMax, it told EC that it would have no incentive to discontinue or limit the availability of ZeniMax games on competing consoles. Microsoft has also publicly told investors that we encourage cross-platform if it’s good for the gaming ecosystem, it’s good for us…we don’t plan to pull all Bethesda content from competing platforms.
At the moment, as you already know, things are pretty stuck and it will be the law that will ultimately determine the next steps the two companies take.
