Sony and Microsoft held a private meeting on February 6 to discuss the licensing of the “Call of Duty” franchise.
According to reports, a Dassault Falcon 8X registered under Sony’s name flew from London to Seattle this month to send Sony executives for negotiations.
This is the first step for Sony and Microsoft to discuss the release of “Call of Duty” on their respective platforms. Microsoft’s attempt to acquire Activision Blizzard faced opposition from multiple parties, and Sony was the most vocal opponent, stating that Microsoft’s exclusive ownership of the “Call of Duty” franchise would seriously affect fair competition in the gaming industry.
Microsoft claimed that it would continue to provide landing agreements for the “Call of Duty” platform for competitors in the next decade. Nintendo accepted this, Valve did not care, as they could get it if they wanted to, and only Sony stated that they could not accept it at all.
Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick claimed that Sony wanted to disrupt the acquisition and refused to communicate with Microsoft, but Sony denied this.
If Sony can reach an agreement with Microsoft this time, it is likely that they can no longer delay or prevent Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision and begin to strive to retain “Call of Duty” on the PlayStation platform in advance.