The latest update on the Activision Blizzard deal has arrived this Wednesday courtesy of a report from Bloomberg, along with some comments from Microsoft President Brad Smith at the Microsoft Annual Shareholders Meeting 2022.
According to the report, Microsoft offered to sign a legally binding consent decree to make Call of Duty available to rivals for 10 years, but the Federal Trade Commission "shrugged off" the proposal. This supposedly took place prior to the FTC announcing its intention to file a suit against the acquisition.
Microsoft's Brad Smith revealed that he was "disappointed" about this at the Shareholders Meeting this week, stating that "the FTC didn’t give us the opportunity to even sit down with the staff to even talk about our proposal".
Here's the full quote:
"The thing that probably disappoints me is not that we will have to present this case to a judge in a court because this is a case in which I have great confidence..."
"I’m disappointed that the FTC didn’t give us the opportunity to even sit down with the staff to even talk about our proposal to even see if there was a solution there."
Even if the FTC isn't interested in the 10-year offer for Call of Duty across various platforms, Microsoft has already confirmed that it has entered into a "commitment" to bring the franchise to Nintendo and Steam over the next decade.
Sony has yet to respond, however, even despite a report suggesting that Microsoft might be willing to offer Call of Duty on PlayStation Plus after the acquisition goes through.