Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard continues to experience twists and turns. After Sony vehemently fought the takeover, they are now ready to negotiate. Behind this change of position is a secret flight to Seattle.
Call of Duty Warzone is coming to mobile. // Source: Activision
Legal disputes, political battles, the international scene, and even secret flights and last-minute negotiations: Microsoft’s record-breaking takeover project by Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard sometimes looks like a real spy movie.
Last Chance Negotiation?
Joost van Dreunen, a university professor of commerce in the United States, was able to get exclusive information about one of the recent twists in the case. A Sony team would have taken one of the company’s private jets to fly to Seattle, where Microsoft and Xbox are headquartered. This is the first flight of this kind in 18 months and it has since been confirmed through the private jet tracking apps that have been talked about so much in recent months.
Sony flew to Seattle to meet with Microsoft
According to Joost van Dreunen, the challenge of this negotiation is that Sony has access to the Call of Duty license “in perpetuity”, i.e. without a time limit. The company had previously refused to sign a deal with Microsoft promising access to the famous franchise for 5 years and then 10 years. A deal signed by Nintendo that Valve didn’t feel was necessary.
For Microsoft, signing such an agreement with its biggest competitor in the gaming console market could greatly facilitate the ongoing negotiations with the European Union and the UK in particular. The latter proposed to Microsoft the complete separation of call-of-duty activities from the takeover project, but was open to this type of agreement with competitors. A very rare opening for the UK Authority and therefore an opportunity for Microsoft.
A big challenge for PlayStation
The challenge for Sony is to ensure good access to the franchise, whether the acquisition project is successful or not. Indeed, in its current state and without a signed agreement between Microsoft and Sony, the PlayStation manufacturer could really lose access to Call of Duty on its platform if given the opportunity to secure its access for 10 years. . As Joost van Dreunen notes, if Microsoft follows the CMA’s recommendation and separates the Call of Duty business from the rest of Activision-Blizzard, the market would end up with a new independent Call of Duty company. This new company would no doubt be eager to secure new exclusivity deals, at least for additional content (DLC) for future Call of Duty games. And with such an auction, Sony would be ill-armed against a still very determined Microsoft.
Sony also wants to avoid getting too involved in the litigation between the FTC and Microsoft. The two video game giants have been fighting for several weeks over which confidential documents Sony, and perhaps juicy for Xbox, must reveal in the process. Becoming Microsoft’s ally on the record would no doubt help calm this battle.
Activision is still very confident
On the sidelines of the UK’s announcement of its concerns about the proposed acquisition, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick sent an internal memo to his teams by showing great confidence. The man accused of making death threats to a subordinate and covering up allegations of harassment at the company says in this memo that preparations for Microsoft’s integration of Teams continue.
As we continue to prepare for completion, you will begin to receive notifications or requests for information from your colleagues on the integration planning team. This is all part of the normal onboarding process to prepare for business continuity on the first day after closing the deal.
One thing is for sure, this memo and Microsoft’s negotiations show that the two companies are unwilling to abandon their merger project. The file should evolve a lot in the coming days
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