Microsoft says buying Activision without ‘Call Of Duty’ could “kill” the deal

Microsoft president Brad Smith has said the company doesn’t “see a viable path” to buying Activision Blizzard without its Call Of Duty series, warning regulators that any concessions of the like could “kill” the deal.

Currently, the proposed £50billion acquisition is facing resistance from European, US and UK regulators, with a number of watchdogs pushing for Microsoft to make concessions for the deal to pass. One concession suggested by the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) was for Microsoft to sell the Call Of Duty series to another buyer.

As reported by Eurogamer, Smith attended a press briefing in Brussels yesterday (February 21), where Microsoft defended its attempts at acquiring Activision Blizzard.

“We just don’t see a viable path to sell the Activision studio or Call Of Duty game to someone else,” Smith told press. “So if you’re the CMA in the UK, I think you’re probably going to want to make a decision.”

Smith went on to ask if the CMA wanted to “kill a deal and cement Sony’s position in its 80 per cent share in the EU” or “let the future go forward with behavioural guardrails and remedies, and bring [Call Of Duty] to 150 million more people?”

Smith also said that Microsoft doesn’t “think it’s realistic that one part of this company can be carved out from the rest” (via GamesIndustry.biz) pushing back on a suggestion that Call Of Duty may need to be sold for the acquisition to be approved.

Since the acquisition was announced last year, Microsoft has faced claims that the purchase will make it difficult for rival consoles and subscription platforms to compete with Xbox, Windows and Game Pass.

In response, yesterday Microsoft announced a “legally-binding” 10-year deal to bring Call Of Duty to Nintendo consoles, and shared that Xbox and PC games will be made available on Nvidia’s GeForce Now streaming service.