Xbox Says It's Offering 'Better Deal' Than Sony's Current COD Contract, Which Expires In 2024

When are the regulators going to tell Sony to accept the unprecedented 10 year deal deal or let Microsoft decide the future of COD on playstation?

Nvidia really nailed it with this deal though. Saw an opportunity to get something for their service and took it. They saw the offers to nintendo and steam and were like let us get one of those deals or we might have to oppose.

Yeah, sod em Sony now, they making this drag out now.
Just continue the deal without them and let them be at the mercy of Xbox. So evil. 😂

Sony is losing the PR war. Microsoft can taste the deal being done and is now being very dramatic. As someone else said gamePass prices will eventually go up to pay for the deal…

Well Xbox need something good, just looked at Jan 2023 console sales.
USA, slowly losing grip there
EUROPE, Almost lost grip there
Japan, don’t bother with any grip.

Definitely need a good start for 2023 as it starting very slowly for them.

"It will be available on Sony PlayStation on the same day, on the same terms, with the same features. It [the deal] really ensures parity."

Been staying away from commenting on these but this stands out and I have to say something.

The entire issue is Sony don't want parity they want to be able to offer exclusive access to content for CoD on playstation before everyone else. Exactly as they have been doing for pretty much for the entirety of their current contract.

Parity was never what Sony wanted and as that is the offer being made it's just backed them into a corner and they ain't coming out of it.

I think everybody who has looked at this would say it's a better deal for Sony than the one they have right now with Activision Blizzard that will expire next year...

Right. Now add a clause to the deal of not releasing COD day and date on Gamepass and its virtually guaranteed that Sony will sign it 😀.
Of course that will never happen since Gamepass growth is the reason Microsoft is pursuing this deal in the first place and, as a Gamepass subscriber I'm not about to complain. Sure plenty folks will disagree about that however 😁.

Sony are going to wait to see what the regulators say first, if its seems negative for them then they will then sign the deal. But at the moment they aren't jumping the gun too soon, they are waiting to see how it all plays out.

Also if its full parity then can sony can request to have it on playstation plus day one? Or would Microsoft all of a sudden have a problem with that.

@UltimateOtaku91 as of 2024 COD may not be on PlayStation. Sony is playing a dangerous game.

@Dezzy70 some actual advertising would help no? Sony have been pushing ads like crazy lately especially with the life size models around the globe and ads during champions league games which are watched by millions in Europe, also on buses and billboards in the UK. But there's nothing from Microsoft.

@Jarobusa depends how long Microsoft have told them the deal is there to sign. The regulators may end up telling sony to sign the deal as its not going to end in their favour, before Microsoft withdraws the contract.

But I think Microsoft will leave that contract on the table anyway as they don't want to lose that revenue it would bring in, atleast not whilst Sony are the market leader by a huge margin.

@UltimateOtaku91 What happens if the ABK deal is denied? 100% XBox will have the same deal as PlayStation has today and PlayStation will have what Xbox has today. Roles reversed.

Risky this is.

@Jarobusa the deal won't be denied, at worse there will just be concessions made.

But if that 1% chance it does get denied then you would guarantee Activision will switch marketing rights over to xbox. Maybe Activision should give sony a little warning about that?

@UltimateOtaku91

Also if its full parity then can sony can request to have it on playstation plus day one? Or would Microsoft all of a sudden have a problem with that.

Microsoft would absolutely have no problem with that as long as Sony makes payment for the privilege. In the end Microsoft likes money even if it comes from Sony...contrary to what some people might believe 😉.

@UltimateOtaku91 agreed the deal looks to go through. But that 1% chance it won't?

Seems risky on Sonys part. Lots of revenue would be lost if they lose their current deal.

For Sony its never been about getting Call of Duty with full parity as other platforms. It's about everyone else not being full parity with them.

They're that kid that wants the new toy until they see other kids have the toy, then they don't want it anymore.

@Kaloudz exactly, I couldn't imagine sony (or anyone) paying that kind of money to get a game on a subscription service and Microsoft probably know this. This deal is all about bolstering gamepass and becoming an even bigger subscription service and thats why Sony are against it to me. If microsoft said we won't put in onto gamepass you'd bet sony would sign it straight away.

@UltimateOtaku91 but it would also be on PlayStation Plus.

@themightyant i agree, but MS even written it in the contract that sony can put COD on PS+ day one, now we know Sony won’t do that. But they could. But yes this is all about not letting subscription services get to big and out of reach for Sony to compete with if that becomes more and more a selling point down the line.

How is it a better deal than one with exclusive marketing rights and exclusive content? That makes absolutely no sense. Sony wouldn't give a rat's rear about this if it weren't for the fact that they buy favor for it to begin with.

@Jarobusa they wouldn't cut cod off playstation , it makes the most money on that console sure they could do it out of spite so Sony doesn't get the 30% from sales made on the ps store but then they'd be losing the 70% they get they wouldn't gain anything by cutting off playstation I doubt it would sell many more Xbox consoles since it will be on gamepass , geforce now & Nintendo eventually

@Kaloudz Yeah, but it's just a ridiculous statement at face value. There's no way to say with a straight face a parity deal is better than a privilege deal. On the other hand it's a 10 year something-deal vs a 1 year-and-then-it's-all-over-because-you-wet-the-bed deal which is what Sony has with current ABK....

@UltimateOtaku91 IIRC, verbally, MS already said they'd agree to CoD PS+ Day 1. It's not in writing yet, but there's good reason to believe they'd be fine agreeing to it in writing as they've openly said it.

OTOH there's not a snowball's chance in Jim's basement Sony actually has any desire to do that. Sony's entire point for blocking this has less to do with CoD itself and more to do with trying to stop subscriptions from becoming the dominant model, or at least slow it down. They really chose the wrong argument with framing it on CoD when their real aim is to try to kill off Plus by way of hamstringing Game Pass.

@UltimateOtaku91
Absolutely that’s what Sony do and Nintendo do when they wish.
Yes, I do not get Xbox at the moment, maybe they are deliberately quiet because of the ABK purchase I’m not sure.
But they definitely don’t seem like a company that want to make the general public aware of their product, hence one of the reasons for lagging behind in third with slow console sales.

It’s their business and up to them, but I don’t get them at all at the minute. It’s like they are laying down and letting the competition walk all over them, with public awareness advertising etc.

Parity isn’t better than the privileges they’ve enjoyed for a decade so this is a weird one.

A ten year deal is better than the ‘you have one year left and then potentially nothing’ though 🤣

@themightyant i agree with you 100%, you are always on point with your takes. Time will tell, but i am at a 9 out of 10 this deal goes through and a 1 out of 10 Sony will put COD on PS+ 😀

@Dezzy70 It's pretty much absolute MS is quiet because of the ABK deal. They kind of have to be, their whole strategy is to show just how weak their market position is next to Sony. Notice how their strategy when so much more silent as soon as the ABK deal came about. And the timing worked well because Halo was a dud, and they had a lot of delays in the pipe, so it was a sensible time to lay low and kind of "reboot" with Starfield the way PS seems to be rebooting with their stock availability.

It also seems like they haven't sorted out their production like Sony has either, though. XSX is still basically unavailable anywhere in the US most of the time. Why hyper-promote a product you can't even make enough to satisfy existing demand? I'm sure it'll sort out at some point, but right now, even though you see consoles on shelves everywhere you go, mind shipping some this way because we still have none available!

@Green-Bandit but I'm 11/10 that once the deal goes through PS fans will declare Crash Bandicoot was always a bad game.

Why don’t Sony just come out and say exactly what they want? Wat would make them ok the deal? Would it pay if Microsoft offered Sony exclusive content like they get now? People would then simply choose, play COD on Game Pass or pay £60 to £70 for the content. Either way the cash goes in to Microsoft’s bank account.

@NEStalgia
Not sure about stock in the USA month Jan 2023 series consoles were terrible really and third again.
UK wasn’t great as well, third but we have absolutely loads of series console stock here and I mean loads.
Again if USA have no stock then Microsoft have themselves to blame for pushing to much to UK and EUROPE and getting low sales and not pushing to to USA where you have no stock.
They have been doing this since late last year, are they just thick or something.
Again to me at the minute Microsoft are definitely not on the ball with series console sales and stock location requirements. Which is dreadful for a company of that size.

Well, guess the deal will go through.

Can’t wait to play Candy Crush on my Xbox Series X with glorious 4k graphics and 120 efpus.

@UltimateOtaku91 Wrong, MS already stated Sony can put the game on PS Plus if they want, that makes your points invalid.
As others have stated repeatedly, all Sony wants is exclusive content or other rights to COD on PS, including ones Xbox won’t have, they want the exact same status quo as they have now.
And thankfully they will not get that no matter what anyone says.

@Dezzy70 Yeah, I think they really expected to sell a lot more in EU & UK than they have. Or didn't expect PS to rebound in production when they did. They seem to have an oversupply there for a market they're only 20% part of, meanwhile you could still side gig running as a scalper for XSX in the US. Demand remains high, but supply is still scarce. PS taking over sales in the US so much I think is mostly down to availability. The inverse of XB in EU the past few years.

I'd be really interested in hearing their thinking on inventory. Because I agree, it seems poorly managed. They could deplete that EU stock and then some if they just shipped it here. They'd be sold overnight. You'd think after 20 years in consoles they'd know the US is their best market....

@NEStalgia And the ONLY reason they want to kill off the subscription model, is because the PlayStation business model is not built on it and they don’t want to change it, they like having the money roll in as is, with all their exclusive deals and lock outs to other platforms. They don’t care about Plus or Cora’s gameplay and have been dragged into it kicking and screaming like children. They don’t want to innovate at all.
Thankfully Spencer does and has turned the games business on its head with Game Pass, and for the better IMO.

@S1ayeR74 The really sad thing is Sony did the subscription thing first! They were so far ahead of the curve they were ridiculed and mocked because the tech to make it work just didn't exist yet, so it worked horribly, and it was overpriced to boot. But they were ahead of the curve before the curve started. And now they're fighting to put the genie back in the bottle. But that was different, forward-thinking management. Kaz, Tretton, Layden, Shu. Not the "big media execs" running the show these days that act like they're running the record label and film studio.

OTOH I suppose money talks, and right now they're making a lot of it doing what they're doing. But when anything swings the pendulum the other way they're going to hurt. And that's why this worries them.

@NEStalgia you know that moment when you say something that makes sense and you know they know it too? Then they don’t reply cause the burn is bad. I did that yesterday with crash bandicoot, a person on Push Square said once the deal goes through Crash will join Banjo in the graveyard. I said the same graveyard or a different one that Sly Cooper and Jak and Dexter are at? Never heard back. Maybe your take is what will really happen and its crash sucks. Have to wait to see. But it’s funny how they spin just for the sake to spin.

@S1ayeR74 they can have it on ps plus if they're willing to pay an enormous fee for it to be included which would be moronic as it would just cannibalise sales (as Activision themselves have said lol)

@Green-Bandit LOL, anyone that's on multiple platforms knows that moment on a regular basis.

(Though Crash really does suck. Who designs a platformer where you run at the screen?! )

@NEStalgia
I know and that’s why I moan about Microsoft because I actually care about Xbox and they don’t seem to be doing the most simple of things that every company wanting to sell something does.
Managing stock territory correctly.
It’s like they either don’t care or they just dam dum arses.
I always strive to do my best and be the best at work, that’s why I just don’t Microsoft with Xbox, it’s like they are amateurs.

I would pay money to have an open question time with Phil Spencer for one hour.

@Dezzy70 MS has always got in their own way. You do remember Windows ME and Windows 8, right? It's kind of what makes them lovable though. No other corporate behemoth on earth operates like a garage startup without a clue, you can't help but kind of root for them sometimes even when you hate them.

That's their culture though. Always was. Bill Gates once said that MS's strength is that it always sees itself as an underdog and in many ways it is.... That was 25+ years ago! They're one of the big 3 in big data and can't even figure out where to move their inventory. You gotta kinda gravitate toward the special kids.

In reality there PROBABLY is an agenda to it. Either purposefully looking bad through the ABK deal, or manipulating currency values by strategically locating inventory in strategic places for a bigger picture reason than we can know that probably has something to do with how to make GP sustainable.

Then again these are the guys that used the wrong iron temp on RoHS solder on an pinless socket mount leading to RRoD. There's not always a strategy involved

Microsoft just keeps getting more generous with their terms. At this point, they just use their money to acquire Activision but give the company to Sony, and throw in a very generous gift basket that includes some of those chocolate turtles. Maybe that will work.

@NEStalgia
Trust me I hope it is a clever strategy and they are going to exploded on to the market like never before, maybe straight after ABK.
If not and they continue to sort of limp along, then I have absolutely no idea what they are doing.
And have to assume it’s how they are and have no idea or just happy playing with their very own pocket money product Xbox having fun times with their closet product.

@NEStalgia HAHHA yep! I actually like the look of Sly Cooper. Those could look insane on PS5, but as we know Sony aren’t making games like that no more cause it’s not a AAA movie blockbuster spin off. I still think at some point MS will give the fans a Banjo game, they know fan’s been asking for a while now. That too would look amazing on Series X.

@NEStalgia Just found it dumb that MS don’t even have ABK yet and Crash is dead already and won’t get another game. Sony fan’s are some of the worse, cause Sony has killed off its shooter and platform games long ago. But somehow Crash is dead and they haven’t even legally owned the IP yet.

What are the chances of M$ putting COD with all content, day 1 on all platforms, but only via gamepass, meaning even the Switch could have access to everything but it would have to be through the gamepass cloud. Is there any chance M$ would do something like this? Yes, Sony, PC, Nintendo, etc would get everything day one (just like xbox), but it must be run through gamepass on their platform. I have not seen this talked about anywhere, is this a possibility?

@Ashadelo Microsoft wanted to put Game Pass on Playstation. Sony said no chance!

@jordan1992 If the deal goes through and M$ only gives Sony, Nintendo, Steam, Geforce, etc this only option then what choice would they have?

It looks to me like selling Xbox hardware is secondary to selling games or subscription. MS is a software company and the only real hardware they ever mfr is xbox. They are playing the long game and if they sale a few consoles along the way they will take it.

I would not be stunned to find out the next Nintendo console will have access to gamepass

@Ashadelo they wouldn’t agree to it. The deal Microsoft are currently offering says COD will come to Playstation. There’s no clause saying only thro Game Pass.

It's looking like Sony could face an ultimatum: admit defeat and sign a deal, or double down hard on opposition and lose everything.

@Green-Bandit All I want is a new Spyro game, a proper sequel to the first 3 Spyro games like we got with Crash 4. Is that too much to ask for?

@JayJ man, i sure hope you get that. I know what it’s like waiting for years on end to get that 1 or 2 games you’ve wanted all that time. Have to wait and see what MS does with these IP’s once the deal happens.

Gonna guess that Spyro and Crash are hanging out with F-zero, blinx the cat,banjo, shining force,jet grind radio and dozens of other misfit IP that just dont sale like publishers want 😭

@Green-Bandit Yup. A proper new Spyro and THPS are at the top of my list. I hope they turn Activision around and get them to make more than just endless COD sequels.

@JayJ i think that is another reason Sony is upset, cause MS hinted last year at COD not having all the dev’s and maybe doing away with yearly titles. It don’t sound like much, but that alone cut’s into PS money, but gives gamers more games instead of just COD all the time, i would love to see Spyro and even Guitar Hero and others, not sure much to any would i play, but happy for others to get a game they haven’t seen in while due to huge dev teams making sure COD is yearly. MS has a big chance to change all that.

@Green-Bandit Yeah Activision right up until Microsoft made their move was increasingly centered around dumping absolutely everything into pumping our yearly COD sequels. I mean look at what happened to Vicarious Visions, they made a top selling and beloved THPS reboot and did a great job with the Crash trilogy only to be absorbed into the yearly COD pump out team. It's just a mess of a publisher that has loads of untapped potential by now, with numerous great IP's that have been sidelined for too long.

We all know this has to do with gamepass. I don't think it's the features or same day release. But let's face it, this buyout would be pointless if Microsoft couldn't put it on gamepass, which is the biggest factor into acquiring them.

@JayJ you think Microsoft acquiring Activision will bring new ip’s??? Like Bethesda has ya mean? Oh wait….no!!

To be fair, Bethesda have just launched HiFi Rush, and have got Starfield and Redfall, both releasing this year, all new IP.

My hope is yes, I hope that they would get the chance to bring back dormant IP. I would love a new Spyro, Crash, Starcraft, Guitar Hero even.

@UltimateOtaku91

Also if its full parity then can sony can request to have it on playstation plus day one? Or would Microsoft all of a sudden have a problem with that.

Phil already has stated in interviews that he is willing to offer it to be in PSN Extra if they want it. Obviously, Xbox is not a charity and Sony would have to pay for that.

@Kaloudz FYI: you can still see post of people that ignore you. They cant see yours.

Blocking is not as easy to do, you got to go to your account setting, look through the ignore list, and then click block on someone. THEN they cant see your posts (so long they are logged into their account.)

@NEStalgia

How is it a better deal than one with exclusive marketing rights and exclusive content? That makes absolutely no sense. Sony wouldn't give a rat's rear about this if it weren't for the fact that they buy favor for it to begin with.

10 years long instead of 2/3 at a time, and it cost them nothing, vs however millions they currently pay ABK for marketing rights and exclusive content.

@Kaloudz I have no clue. If you surround things with * they turn bold.

Starting a line with * and a space results in:

• a bullet point.

A lot of stuff seems to have [bracket] synthax, like [quote]
, [i] = italics, etc, they only get to work if you end the thing with a closing [/thing] statement.

i am guessing spoiler is just a similar [tag]... let me test... yes it works

@Tharsman Yeah, but it guarantees them only what they already would have had, vs a deal that gives them an advantage. Paying for an advantage for 2 years is still a better deal than not paying to be guaranteed no advantage for 10

@TheAshCohen09 Yeah exactly lol, we have two new IP's from Bethesda this year. That was a poor choice for an example.

@Somebody The difference is Nintendo and Nvidia have nothing to lose. They didn't have COD before and it isn't a system seller for Nintendo.

Sony on the other hand will want a clause in place that prevents Call of Duty launching on Gamepass at the same time as the retail release. Microsoft didn't buy Activision to sell more units; they brought it to sell more subs. It doesn't matter if Sony get a bigger cut over the next decade because they know a lot of people buy a PlayStation just to play COD and FIFA.

There is nothing wrong with this but will people buy a PlayStation to play it when they can instead buy an Xbox (possibly a cheaper S model) and just fork out for one month of sub for the campaign?

Thus if COD launches on Gamepass day one (or even within a few months) Sony know they will lose console sales and unit sales because of it.

I doubt Microsoft are willing to capitulate and offer Sony a deal that gives both platforms parity and stops new COD titles launching on Gamepass within 12 months of launch.

It is this imbalance that the regulators will be looking at.

@RadioHedgeFund my point is regulators will eventually have to say alright sony we did what we could but the deal has to go through. It's not regulators job to protect the market leader and this deal does not negatively impact the industry or competition as a whole. Eventually the regulators will have to say accept their deal or take no deal. It's not realistic for sony to pretend it is not going through anymore.

Microsoft has the positive PR as the one trying to make a deal with sony. The regulators have the chance to make it look like they forced concessions out of MS (concessions that directly address sonys complaint). It is Sony that looks awful during this. Not negotiating, not complying with a subpoena, bought an unannounced studio (according to job listings).

@Somebody Yeah, I doubt the regulators are going to be willing to throw their careers away just to benefit Sony. It's going to look really bad if they go all out to protect a market leader with a sizable marketshare advantage.

@Somebody The way things have gone, I would rather see the ABK deal approved internationally and domestically, without Sony accepting the deal. Then MS can flip the content exclusivity and early access back at them. Sony stands to get a better deal/guarantees than they had with Activision. Considering their competition would own Call of Duty, that is kind of crazy.