Call of Duty is one of the biggest games in the world, but it could’ve been bigger if you ask Microsoft.
Hidden amongst the numerous filings as part of its now-all-but-cover legal tussle with the Federal Trade Commission, it has already won, by the way, Microsoft claims that Activision’s decision to host Call of Duty exclusively on Battle.net wasn’t in the franchise’s best interest.
Cast your mind back to 2018; Activision Blizzard, amid fan discontent, announced that the PC version of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 would only launch on their platform, Battle.net. This marked a departure from Steam, the leading digital distribution platform, and a radical shift in strategy aimed at amplifying Battle.net’s growth. The Call of Duty series remained tethered to Battle.net for four years, with Activision doggedly adhering to this plan, much to the chagrin of its massive fan base. And, while Call of Duty might have done relatively well in that time, it took a while for the series to go back to posting record numbers.
Microsoft's documents also says that Activision making Call of Duty on PC a Battle net exclusive from 2018-2021 was a "resounding failure" and did not result in any meaningful increase of active Bnet users. pic.twitter.com/PqROUJ5A3F
— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) July 13, 2023
It wasn’t until last year that Activision conceded defeat, resulting in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 posting one of the best-selling launch figures in the history of gaming.
You can’t exactly blame Activision Blizzard for backtracking as the anticipated growth of Battle.net didn’t materialize and it likely never will. The platform’s active user numbers stubbornly flatlined, contrasting starkly with Steam’s burgeoning growth that saw user numbers swell from 67 million in 2017 to an impressive 132 million in 2021.
This narrative unfolded within the said recent court filings by Microsoft, which detailed the company’s post-trial “findings” and “conclusions” following its recent victory against the FTC. Microsoft used the case of Activision’s fruitless exclusivity drive with Call of Duty as a counter-argument against the FTC’s efforts to halt Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
However, Microsoft did contend that a platform’s success doesn’t hinge on hosting a single franchise, specifically, Call of Duty. In its argument, Microsoft somewhat defended Activision Blizzard by saying that Steam continues to grow. The tech giant further pointed out that the Nintendo Switch, which lacks Call of Duty, has thrived nevertheless, suggesting that a platform’s success is independent of this specific title.
Microsoft further downplayed the potential impact of making Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive, hinting that this wouldn’t be as bad for PlayStation as Sony makes it out to be. While acknowledging this possibility, it reiterated its commitment to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.
Despite these assurances, one crucial aspect remains: the availability of the game. While CoD was Battle.net exclusive, it was still accessible to PC owners. However, the picture will look different for PlayStation owners if CoD were to become an Xbox exclusive.
Of course, as previously mentioned, this will never happen. At least, not for the foreseeable future.
For now, what’s guaranteed is that Microsoft will eventually own Activision Blizzard. We just don’t know if it will happen in the next few days, weeks, or months, but it’s coming soon. The only hurdle, the CMA, has opened itself to negotiations, and Microsoft is willing to make the necessary concessions to make this happen.
With that said, the ending of this legal saga feels bittersweet for gamers who’ve enjoyed every bit of new information that’s been revealed as part of the proceedings. Case in point, we just found out during the trial that a PlayStation 5 Slim and the long-rumored PlayStation 5 Pro are both in the works, with Nintendo working on a new Switch model that will be capable of running a future Call of Duty title because its performance will be comparable to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
