The developers of Call Of Duty, Activision, made some rounds in the news headlines in recent times due to their potential merger deal with Microsoft. The tech and information giant, Microsoft, had proposed an acquisition deal with the gaming market leader.  

UK regulators and competitors, including Sony, criticized this deal. At the time of writing this article, this acquisition deal is still under investigation by the CMA. Many believe a possibility where Microsoft’s Xbox acquires Activision and restricts games like Call of Duty to their console.

The competitive ecosystem could be severely harmed. But that doesn’t halt Microsoft’s approaches to the CMA, to make this deal happen in the near future. In a recent 111-page response letter to UK regulators, Microsoft has revealed some interesting information about Activision’s opinion of their games’ distribution. 

The future of Call of Duty and other Activision games on subscription services

In the letter, it has been revealed that Activision won’t be releasing their games on any subscription services unless the Microsoft merger goes through. Activision already has a pre-existing contract with Sony that stipulated, Activision could not release Call of Duty on Game Pass for a certain number of years. This was also made clear when Phil Spencer himself referred that Microsoft intends to honor the existing agreements upon the acquisition. 

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In the response letter to the regulators, there is a quote that says, “Activision’s ordinary course internal business documents, as well as the sworn testimony of its executives, has made clear that there are no plans to do so in the future absent the Merger. Activision is concerned that participation in subscription services could impact its (REDACTED) and would lead to brand dilution and cannibalisation of buy-to-play sales (especially of new releases). This reflects Activision’s view that even if the subscription business model were to grow, the (REDACTED). This has been a fundamental impediment to publishers more generally agreeing to place their content on subscription services, a stance which is not going to change in the future.”

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Will Activision ever release games on subscription services?

It is hard to say if there will be a time in the future where Call of Duty will be available in the multi-game subscription services. But it is very clear why they refuse to drop their games on subscriptions like Game Pass on Day 1. As the series takes advantage of both full-game releases and In-game purchases. 

So restricting full-game releases could severely affect Call of Duty earnings; for reference, Modern Warfare 2 made over $1 billion in 10 days solely from full-game sales across all platforms. It has also been confirmed that Activision is not looking to make its own subscription services such as Ubisoft+ or EA Play. 

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