Microsoft said it did not know when Call of Duty, the game at the center of a legal battle the company faces in several countries, will be released, the Windows maker noted in its Federal Trade Commission (FTC) complaint. Blizzard, the video game company that owns this famous game.
Microsoft announced in January of last year that it would buy the game publisher for $68.7 billion and acquire “iconic franchises” including Call of Duty, Warcraft and Candy Crush, the company says in an incredible response. Spend a lot of money to get a publisher.
Microsoft’s response to the Federal Trade Commission
A paragraph in the 37-page response to the FTC says:
Microsoft says it does not have sufficient knowledge or information to believe claims about industry perception of the original Call of Duty and Call of Duty release date to be true. or the veracity of claims about Call of Duty’s launch, typical release times, and the resources and budget Activision is allocating to Call of Duty, including the number of studios working on Call of Duty.
Microsoft’s problem with the Activision Blizzard deal
Competitors, especially Sony, have opposed Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard because they believe Call of Duty, a huge revenue generator for gaming platforms, will become a monopoly for Microsoft.
Phil Spencer, head of games at Microsoft, has repeatedly said that the franchise will survive on competing consoles, and most recently, Nintendo and Microsoft reached an agreement to keep Call of Duty on Nintendo platforms for 10 years after the acquisition.
The company also said it offered Sony a 10-year deal, but the Japanese company, which reportedly didn’t accept a three-year deal, hasn’t publicly responded to the 10-year offer.
