More than half a year after the acquisition was first made public, regulatory bodies are still busy scrutinizing the deal. For example, in Brazil, the government asked several companies to share their thoughts about the buyout. Sony, in particular, had several interesting points to share. However, the common theme of Sony’s statements is that it knows the importance of the Call of Duty brand to the PlayStation platform. The tech giant even goes as far as to say that Call of Duty has reached similar heights of popularity to entertainment brands like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. Finally, Sony adds Call of Duty can affect a “users’ choice of console” and that it is synonymous with the genre, unrivaled by its competition. It’s understandable why Sony thinks so highly of Call of Duty. The series is a regular chart-topper. Sony has also had a long-term partnership with Call of Duty. PlayStation owners will often get first dibs on access to Call of Duty games as well as exclusive items. While Microsoft will honor this existing agreement, it won’t be for long until it’s the Xbox owners who will receive similar rewards. Not to mention, there’s nothing stopping Microsoft from making Call of Duty exclusive to the Xbox platform. Say what you will about Activision Blizzard’s annual Call of Duty release schedule, but you can’t fault them for running like a well-oiled machine. Battlefield and Halo have since given up trying to keep up. Meanwhile, despite earlier rumors, Activision Blizzard is still expected to release a core Call of Duty title next year as well as another one in 2024. If we assume that Sony has until 2025 before the agreement ends and Microsoft can release Call of Duty on the Xbox Series S/X as an exclusive first-party title, Sony will have around three years to come up with a competing product. This is nowhere near enough time for Sony to prepare for the eventual loss of Call of Duty. But, with Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard expected to close in June, it might have no other option. In the meantime, Call of Duty fans, regardless of platform, can look forward to playing Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2 later this year.
