A sabotage signed by contract
As with the Bethesda games, the normal thing would be to wait see the big Activision franchises land to the increasingly spectacular and surprising catalog of Xbox Game Pass. The jewel in the crown would obviously be Call of Duty, and now that we are about to receive a new installment that seems to usher in a new and long-lasting era of the saga, that is when doubts appear about whether the game will arrive for free. at the service of Microsoft.
Well, everything points to no. As reported in Charlie IntelApparently, some documents presented in the Competition and Markets Authority of the United Kingdom detail that among the exclusivity agreements signed by Sony with Activision and that are still in force today, it is specified that no Call of Duty game could make it to the Xbox Game Pass service in a certain number of years.
CharlieIntel
@charlieINTEL
Microsoft, in documents filed with the UK’s CMA, confirms Activision Blizzard and Sony’s current Call of Duty agreement/partnership includes a clause blocking Call of Duty from being available on Xbox Game Pass for a number of years. https://t.co/4mPJFbsBHT
October 19, 2022 • 02:41
Sony and exclusivity with Activision
Let us remember that this exclusivity is what allows Sony to have some privileges in the gamesuch as early access to betas for their users, exclusive cosmetic packs, exclusive operators and, apparently, also the license to decide whether or not the direct competitor receives the game on their subscription service.
At the moment the time limit imposed by this clause is unknown, since otherwise we would be talking about a total blockade completely intentional, so we are sure that Microsoft is working on this scenario, and will use it to demonstrate its good intentions with the purchase of Activision.
Phil Spencer already referred in his day that he would respect all existing agreements between Sony and Activision even after becoming new owners, but what is clear is that these types of conditions could not be tolerated. He also clarified that Call of Duty would continue to be available on PlayStation for many years, but if those years refer to the same years in which it will not be able to reach Xbox Game Pass, we could easily understand that as soon as they lift the ban on Microsoft Call of Duty the game could no longer be available on PlayStation, at least from future editions of the saga.
an absurd war
It is true that Microsoft’s position has always been to play in all possible places, so we do not see blocking the game on PlayStation, but giving it away on the service, something that would more than compensate for the price of Xbox Game Pass. This future is the one that inevitably Sony will not be able to stop, and the only thing that should be trying is to portray it as much as possible so that it happens as late as possible.
