Microsoft confirms that it has offered a ten-year COD license to Sony

Microsoft has confirmed that it has made an offer to Sony, guaranteeing new Call of Duty games on PlayStation consoles for ten years. It is not yet known whether Sony has agreed to the deal.

In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Microsoft Vice Chairman Brad Smith confirms that he has made an offer to release new Call of Duty games for PlayStation consoles for ten years, on the same day that those games are also released for Xbox consoles. The CEO wants to ensure that the possible licensing agreement is ‘legally enforceable in the US, the UK and the European Union’.

Smith labels Sony’s fear that Microsoft would no longer release the Call of Duty franchise on other platforms as “economically irrational.” He also claims that the Xbox exclusivity of the shooter series would be ‘disastrous for Call of Duty and Xbox itself’ due to the popularity of crossplay. The CEO also states that such a choice would ‘lock out millions of gamers’. Sony has not yet responded to the Microsoft CEO’s opinion piece. It is also not yet clear whether Sony will agree to the deal.

There have been rumors for some time that Microsoft had offered a 10-year licensing deal. Reuters previously wrote that the company is responding to European competition regulators and the European Commission with the offer. January is the deadline for European companies to register their objections to the billion-dollar takeover with the EC. These objections will be included on a list that will be published in the same month.

The European Commission will make a decision on the takeover on April 11. At the same time, the US Federal Trade Commission is reportedly preparing an antitrust complaint against Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.