Bobby Kotick Reveals Call Of Duty Secrets During Recent Testimony
The current Activision CEO shared some Call of Duty secrets during a recent court hearing.
Tensions Rise For The Microsoft Acquisition of Activision
During recent hearings for Microsoft’s proposed acquisition, several secrets were shared in regards to Activision, and more specifically Call of Duty’s future. Bethesda’s Pete Hines, in an internal email, asked Microsoft executives why Bethesda titles would be remain exclusive to Xbox & PC only, despite Microsoft reportedly allowing Activision games like Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation.
An economic professor thinks Microsoft has the economic benefit to make Call of Duty exclusive, while claiming subscriptions and cloud services are too new of a purchase model to make exact determinations about economic impact of that industry, but could leverage Activision’s library of games to expand. While the FTC seems like they’re pivoting more towards a veto of the acquisition, the current Activision CEO, Bobby Kotick, took the stand to share his defense for the Microsoft buyout.
The Unexpected Call of Duty Secrets That Spilled
Once Bobby Kotick took the stand, he revealed some details specifically pertaining to Call of Duty and it’s importance to the Microsoft acquisition:
- Modern Warfare II hit “new franchise sales records” for Call of Duty
- Call of Duty has 100 million monthly active users, with #1 being mobile, then PC, then consoles
- They “might miss the mark” and “cant hit the mark every year” in regards to Vanguard’s underperformance
- It’s “possible” to make Call of Duty launch first on specific platforms
- They “Made a mistake” not launching on Nintendo Switch
- Microsoft did not consult Activision about the 10 year Nintendo deal, work has not started yet
- Only with the right price, Kotick would consider Call of Duty on day and date subscription services
- Warzone Mobile supposed to launch earlier but got delayed to this fall
- Call of Duty revenue on Playstation is twice as much when compared to Xbox revenue
Bobby Kotick reportedly high fived Phil Spencer on his way out. Sony however, accidently revealed a Call of Duty secret that likely wouldn’t have gone public for another year.
The End of Call of Duty x Playstation Exclusivity Deal
News outlet ‘The Verge‘ reported that due to a sharpie issue, some confidential details about the Call of Duty x Playstation exclusivity deal got revealed to the public. The court document, which has since been deleted by the court, revealed that the current exclusivity deal ends in 2024, but does NOT include the rumored Black Ops title releasing that year.
The last game covered by the contract is a Call of Duty title to be released in late 2023.
It’s unclear what content will remain exclusive to Playstation in Call of Duty 2023, but if Modern Warfare II is anything to go off, we may just be seeing PS Plus combat packs or exclusive XP weekends, instead of modes like Survival or Onslaught as we saw with Modern Warfare (2019) or Black Ops Cold War (2020).
Day three of court hearings kept the Call of Duty community entertained, as a Federal Judge revealed the release window for Sledgehammer’s rumored Modern Warfare III.
Stay tuned for more updates on the potential acquisition of Activision Blizzard.