In the still ongoing drama surrounding Microsoft’s $69 billion purchase of publisher Activision Blizzard, there has been a continuous back and forth between the leadership of Xbox and PlayStation about the future of Call of Duty<\/em> on both platforms.<\/p>
In part of Microsoft’s highly publicized push to keep the iconic series on PlayStation in the future, the company has said that it offered Sony a 10-year deal<\/a> to keep CoD <\/em>on PlayStation as recently as Nov. 11, according to a recent report by The New York Times<\/em>. Sony has reportedly declined to comment on the supposed offer.<\/p>
This offer made by Microsoft comes at a time when the company is trying to appease regulators from around the world so that the purchase of Activision Blizzard can officially go through. Microsoft has argued since the purchase was announced that the deal would be beneficial to all gamers, game creators, and the games industry as a whole. CEO Phil Spencer has publicly stated numerous times<\/a> that the goal is to keep CoD<\/em> on PlayStation long-term.<\/p>
Sony has been adamantly opposing the deal since, with Sony CEO Jim Ryan meeting with regulators in the EU and around the world, saying that the deal and Microsoft’s control over IP like CoD <\/em>would have “major negative implications for gamers and the future of the gaming industry.” Back in September, Ryan scoffed at a supposed deal offered by Microsoft<\/a> that would only keep CoD <\/em>on PlayStation for three years past the current deal, reportedly set to expire after the next two main franchise releases after Modern Warfare 2<\/em>.<\/p>