Call of Duty had almost stopped being released for Xbox years ago.
Since last fall, all anyone can talk about is whether Xbox could become owner of Call of Duty franchise and what that would entail for both its future as an entity and for games industry overall.
Microsoft is in the news again over its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion; regulators have long scrutinised this deal, prompting Microsoft into engaging in court battles against U.S.’ Federal Trade Commission (FTC), in an attempt to justify that its buyout would be fair. According to TweakTown reports during one debate Xbox’s Corporate Vice President Sarah Bond revealed that Call of Duty almost didn’t release on new-gen consoles at all!
Bond’s testimony revealed that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick refused to allow Call of Duty onto Xbox Series X/S until Xbox agreed on a certain revenue split deal of 70-30; that means publishers like Activision receive 70% cut of software sales while platform holders such as Xbox get the remaining 30% share.
“It was obvious that Call of Duty would debut simultaneously for both consoles; anything short would not have been in line with our vision and would likely lead to his refusal of placing Call of Duty on Xbox,” Bond stated (via TweakTown). If we did not move beyond standard revenue share models he may choose not to place Call of Duty there.”
Bond reported that Call of Duty devs had refused to use Series X/S dev kits until Microsoft agreed, leading them to fear that no Call of Duty games would have been ready in time for release on new-gen consoles unless an agreement could be quickly made by Xbox.
Xbox apparently accepted the deal eventually, although details regarding revenue distribution remain hazy. According to reports, FTC lawyers made reference to an 80-20 split during proceedings but this may or may not have been indicative of what actually transpired.
