The latter part of 2022 and early months of 2023 were filled with talk about Call of Duty - and whether PlayStation would eventually agree to Xbox's deal that would guarantee the IP on Sony's consoles for the next ten years.
It took ages for this to be concluded, with PlayStation boss Jim Ryan indicating his fears about Microsoft owning the franchise on multiple occasions, and Microsoft getting visibly frustrated at Sony's unwillingness to sign the contract.
Then, in July of 2023, Sony finally confirmed an agreement for Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation for ten years. In an interview with CNBC this week, Ryan was asked why his team decided to change their minds after all that time:
"You know what? We're at risk of getting very granular here, but there are deals and deals. And, you know, the deal that was offered at a certain point in time may not have been the deal that was actually signed."
Whatever the new terms of the deal ended up being, Ryan is clearly very pleased that an agreement was finally made, telling CNBC that Sony was "absolutely thrilled" to partner with Microsoft in securing Call of Duty on PlayStation.
"We were absolutely thrilled to be able to negotiate a deal with Microsoft to ensure that that franchise remains on PlayStation platforms for the next ten years, and that was very important to us, and we're very happy to have done that deal."
So, clearly some things needed to be ironed out from Sony's perspective, but everything seems to be in place now for the Call of Duty franchise over the next decade. Don't forget that it's apparently coming to Nintendo consoles as well.
In related news, this might actually be the last time we hear from Jim Ryan in his current role! The PlayStation leader is stepping away from Sony after 28 years at the company later this month - probably for a well-deserved rest!