Support NeoGAF

[kyliethicc]

Call of Duty PlayStation Deal Reportedly Covers the Next Three Games

According to known insider Tom Henderson, Sony's Call of Duty PS5, PS4 marketing deal covers the next three games.

www.playstationlifestyle.net

Call of Duty games might not come to Game Pass before 2025

Sony's deal with Activision for Call of Duty marketing rights lasts for the next three games, according to rumours.

www.altchar.com

 

[lh032]

so Sony has 4-5 years to create their own COD.

 

[anthony2690]

Hopefully the marketing deal doesn't prevent adding the games to game pass.

Guess it's just a wait and see situation.

 

[ParaSeoul]

I wonder if the actual acquisition will even be finalized by then at the rate its going.

 

[ParaSeoul]

so Sony has 4-5 years to create their own COD.

Killzone.

 

[SlimySnake]

I still dont understand why you would spend $70 billion for CoD only to "honor" the agreement. Every contract has a fine if you break it. Just pay that fine even if for whatever reason its in the hundreds of millions. You paid billions for cod on gamepass on day one. If that cant happen until 2026, whats the point?

This is the time to sell consoles. Have people pick up an Xbox instead of a PS. By 2026, it would already be too late.

 

[kyliethicc]

Killzone.

 

[DeepEnigma]

I think he misspelled Game Pass.

 

[reksveks]

I still dont understand why you would spend $70 billion for CoD only to "honor" the agreement. Every contract has a fine if you break it. Just pay that fine even if for whatever reason its in the hundreds of millions. You paid billions for cod on gamepass on day one. If that cant happen until 2026, whats the point?

This is the time to sell consoles. Have people pick up an Xbox instead of a PS. By 2026, it would already be too late.

I think Microsoft thinks that they can get COD on GP, I don't think the content of the marketing deal would have been a surprise to them after the initial investigation personally.

I think it might do with the usage of the word third party in the marketing agreement.

 

[jaysius]

Whatever they paid for this privilege I'm sure nobody could crystal ball COD being such a trainwreck shitshow that it's turned into.

It was a big dick move, but now it's turned into a limp noodle move.

It'd be great if some huge company took the chance to develop a competing product to COD, we really need it right now, COD has been circling the drain for years now.

 

[ParaSeoul]

This is the time to sell consoles. Have people pick up an Xbox instead of a PS. By 2026, it would already be too late.

They don't want to sell consoles,they want to sell subs.

 

[SportsFan581]

I still dont understand why you would spend $70 billion for CoD only to "honor" the agreement. Every contract has a fine if you break it. Just pay that fine even if for whatever reason its in the hundreds of millions. You paid billions for cod on gamepass on day one. If that cant happen until 2026, whats the point?

This is the time to sell consoles. Have people pick up an Xbox instead of a PS. By 2026, it would already be too late.

AB is doing like $5b in profit per year, that's all the reason you need. Owning the content will be a big get for GP as well.

Plus, if the rumors are true and CoD releases are breaking away from the yearly cycle, whatever content releases in place of those has nothing to do with Sony marketing.

 

[Tiago Rodrigues]

I still dont understand why you would spend $70 billion for CoD only to "honor" the agreement. Every contract has a fine if you break it. Just pay that fine even if for whatever reason its in the hundreds of millions. You paid billions for cod on gamepass on day one. If that cant happen until 2026, whats the point?

This is the time to sell consoles. Have people pick up an Xbox instead of a PS. By 2026, it would already be too late.

I mean they could break it...and Sony could sue them for millions or billions.

 

[SlimySnake]

They don't want to sell consoles,they want to sell subs.

Yes, but you cant sell subs if CoD cant go on gamepass which is what Tom Henderson is implying. Sony's marketing deals dont allow games to go on gamepass according to leaked Capcom documents.

 

[kyliethicc]

Whatever they paid for this privilege I'm sure nobody could crystal ball COD being such a trainwreck shitshow that it's turned into.

It was a big dick move, but now it's turned into a limp noodle move.

It'd be great if some huge company took the chance to develop a competing product to COD, we really need it right now, COD has been circling the drain for years now.

MW (19) was the best CoD in a long time and Warzone is a huge hit.

 

[Quixz]

I still dont understand why you would spend $70 billion for CoD only to "honor" the agreement. Every contract has a fine if you break it. Just pay that fine even if for whatever reason its in the hundreds of millions. You paid billions for cod on gamepass on day one. If that cant happen until 2026, whats the point?

This is the time to sell consoles. Have people pick up an Xbox instead of a PS. By 2026, it would already be too late.

King is still a huge money maker

 

[ParaSeoul]

 

[ParaSeoul]

Yes, but you cant sell subs if CoD cant go on gamepass which is what Tom Henderson is implying. Sony's marketing deals dont allow games to go on gamepass according to leaked Capcom documents.

Take it up with Phil. If we can meme Jim Ryan we can do the same with him.

 

[SlimySnake]

I mean they could break it...and Sony could sue them for millions or billions.

Good point. I didnt realize they could sue and win.

AB is doing like $5b in profit per year, that's all the reason you need. Owning the content will be a big get for GP as well.

Plus, if the rumors are true and CoD releases are breaking away from the yearly cycle, whatever content releases in place of those has nothing to do with Sony marketing.

Didnt activision say that they have ALL their studios working on CoD? They wouldnt be doing that if the plan was to move away from yearly releases. And they would definitely no longer be making $5 billion in profit if they move away from a yearly model.

 

[Pelta88]

 

[Robb]

That sucks for MS, although I'm sure they knew about all the contracts that were in place long before the actual purchase.

 

[K' Dash]

So... some people will get the games with GP while others will pay up $60 buckaroos for the next few years.

Seems fair to me.

 

[SportsFan581]

Good point. I didnt realize they could sue and win.


Didnt activision say that they have ALL their studios working on CoD? They wouldnt be doing that if the plan was to move away from yearly releases. And they would definitely no longer be making $5 billion in profit if they move away from a yearly model.

They have been yes, but it has been widely speculated that they will drop away from yearly CoD releases to help with CoD fatigue (and since they have WZ to keep the MP going). I'm sure they would continue to have some kind of big yearly release, it just isn't going to be CoD necessarily.

 

[reksveks]

Yes, but you cant sell subs if CoD cant go on gamepass which is what Tom Henderson is implying. Sony's marketing deals dont allow games to go on gamepass according to leaked Capcom documents.

This was a part of a convo that I was having on a discord channel, does Fifa or any other marketed games (not alot of them tbf) got on EA Play Pro? if so, how?

 

[Captain Toad]

That's the first 6 years of PS5 Series X life.

 

[SlimySnake]

This was a part of a convo that I was having on a discord channel, does Fifa or any other marketed games (not alot of them tbf) got on EA Play Pro? if so, how?

EA Play Pro is only on PC, no?

I dont think Sony sees them as a competing platform. Otherwise they would not be porting their games there.

 

[ToadMan]

I still dont understand why you would spend $70 billion for CoD only to "honor" the agreement. Every contract has a fine if you break it. Just pay that fine even if for whatever reason its in the hundreds of millions. You paid billions for cod on gamepass on day one. If that cant happen until 2026, whats the point?

This is the time to sell consoles. Have people pick up an Xbox instead of a PS. By 2026, it would already be too late.

It's not a case of paying for breaking the contract.

Sony could, in this case, get a court order that would stop COD from being sold anywhere except their platform if they could demonstrate MS was about to knowingly break a contractual agreement.

And on top of that, MS will be very happy with this. They get to sell the game at full price on their platform and paint Sony as the bad guys.

If any of this is true which remains to be seen.

 

[Bernd Lauert]

King is still a huge money maker

Activision, Blizzard and King are all money makers. Even Blizzard made 700m in profits last year. Just for comparison, that's roughly the same as the entirety of EA and Ubisoft combined made last year.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

This was a part of a convo that I was having on a discord channel, does Fifa or any other marketed games (not alot of them tbf) got on EA Play Pro? if so, how?

If you look at the REVillage document it specifically restricts them from putting their game on third-party subscription services. Nothing about internal ones

 

[nominedomine]

"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak" - Jim Ryan, The Art of Console War.

Spoiler: Bonus quote

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a $70B mistake"

 

[reksveks]

EA Play Pro is only on PC, no?

I dont think Sony sees them as a competing platform. Otherwise they would not be porting their games there.

The contract doesn't be specific to what kinda of hardware and does call out Google Stadia Pro.

If you look at the REVillage document it specifically restricts them from putting their game on third-party subscription services. Nothing about internal ones

Yeah, that's the thing that I am not 100% on. When the deal closes, would GP be an internal subscription service? Would ABK have to make one and then combine it with GP for Xbox users (fore free obviously)and maybe offer it to PS. I am sure there are lawyers thinking about this personally.

Obviously there is the other thing of COD/ABK being possibly big enough to have a custom deal.

 

[ManaByte]

Oh so now we believe Tom Henderson?

 

[NickFire]

The contract doesn't be specific to what kinda of hardware and does call out Google Stadia Pro.

Yeah, that's the thing that I am not 100% on. When the deal closes, would GP be an internal subscription service? Would ABK have to make one and then combine it with GP for Xbox users (fore free obviously)and maybe offer it to PS. I am sure there are lawyers thinking about this personally.

Activision isn't being dissolved unless I missed something. If MS is buying the shares then Activision remains a separate entity owned by MS.

 

[Ass of Can Whooping]

The contract doesn't be specific to what kinda of hardware and does call out Google Stadia Pro.

Yeah, that's the thing that I am not 100% on. When the deal closes, would GP be an internal subscription service, does ABK have to make one and then combine it with GP on Xbox and maybe offer it to PS. I am sure there are lawyers thinking about this personally.

I wouldn't think so since the contract was between Activision and Sony. Could be a loophole though. Not sure

 

[DeepEnigma]

Oh so now we believe Tom Henderson?

 

[SlimySnake]

The contract doesn't be specific to what kinda of hardware and does call out Google Stadia Pro.

Yeah, that's the thing that I am not 100% on. When the deal closes, would GP be an internal subscription service? Would ABK have to make one and then combine it with GP for Xbox users (fore free obviously)and maybe offer it to PS. I am sure there are lawyers thinking about this personally.

It also calls out ALL xbox subs so its fair to say that Sony's cod contract wont allow a gamepass day one release.

 

[Drewpee]

Yes, but you cant sell subs if CoD cant go on gamepass which is what Tom Henderson is implying. Sony's marketing deals dont allow games to go on gamepass according to leaked Capcom documents.

If true then Sony truly gave Microsoft no option but to buy out major studios so that didn't happen.

 

[reksveks]

It also calls out ALL xbox subs so its fair to say that Sony's cod contract wont allow a gamepass day one release.

Yeah, I think there might be loopholes aka ABK offering it's own subscription service including other games and then that's bundled for free on GP.

Who knows what's going to happen in 6-12months time?

 

[adamsapple]

I still dont understand why you would spend $70 billion for CoD only to "honor" the agreement. Every contract has a fine if you break it. Just pay that fine even if for whatever reason its in the hundreds of millions. You paid billions for cod on gamepass on day one. If that cant happen until 2026, whats the point?

They can be very easily sued to stop from the game being sold at all.

That's the point.

If a judge puts an injunction of sales, MS/Activision can't legally sell the game. That would be the literal worst case scenario.

Oh so now we believe Tom Henderson?

It's a clown world out there Mana.

 

[Coloress_Kafka]

Hard to not see this franchise as Cuck of Duty for the next few years. Jim Ryan still gets to fuck despite Phil putting a ring on it. Sad

 

[reinking]

The contract doesn't be specific to what kinda of hardware and does call out Google Stadia Pro.

Yeah, that's the thing that I am not 100% on. When the deal closes, would GP be an internal subscription service? Would ABK have to make one and then combine it with GP for Xbox users (fore free obviously)and maybe offer it to PS. I am sure there are lawyers thinking about this personally.

Obviously there is the other thing of COD/ABK being possibly big enough to have a custom deal.

If, COD follows the same contract, I don't think the "third-party" would be iron clad in allowing MS to put the game on Game Pass regardless of it being considered internal or not. Not only does it specifically mention "any competitive" services it also calls out Game Pass and Project X Cloud as specific examples. I'm sure attorneys and $$ will have this issue resolved before it has any impact. I doubt either company would want this to go to court.

 

[MiguelItUp]

So yeah, much like they had with MW 2019. I know I said this elsewhere, but as a sequel to that, I can't say that I'm surprised at all.

 

[SlimySnake]

Activision isn't being dissolved unless I missed something. If MS is buying the shares then Activision remains a separate entity owned by MS.

But here is the thing. MS is going to OWN Activision after paying $70 billion. When you own something, you can do it with as you please. You can let it die like Mitt Romney's Bain Capital would for companies they would acquire in guise of 'turning them around' or you can spin them off into their own subsidiary like AT&T just did with WB. They are YOUR property and no one can tell you what you can or can not do with them.

Thats why Microsoft had to offer that they will 'honor' sonys contracts. They dont HAVE to. Otherwise they wouldnt have had to make that statement. It's their perogative. Of course, Sony could sue and thats their right, but MS can do with their new company as they please.

 

[Ceadeus]

Killzone.

Exactly my thought lol. The COD killer

 

[DeepEnigma]

But here is the thing. MS is going to OWN Activision after paying $70 billion. When you own something, you can do it with as you please. You can let it die like Mitt Romney's Bain Capital would for companies they would acquire in guise of 'turning them around' or you can spin them off into their own subsidiary like AT&T just did with WB. They are YOUR property and no one can tell you what you can or can not do with them.

Thats why Microsoft had to offer that they will 'honor' sonys contracts. They dont HAVE to. Otherwise they wouldnt have had to make that statement. It's their perogative. Of course, Sony could sue and thats their right, but MS can do with their new company as they please.

So much wrong in this.

 

[HoofHearted]

It's gonna be a bumpy ride... buckle up..

 

[adamsapple]

Thats why Microsoft had to offer that they will 'honor' sonys contracts. They dont HAVE to. Otherwise they wouldnt have had to make that statement. It's their perogative. Of course, Sony could sue and thats their right, but MS can do with their new company as they please.

My dude, I'm real happy you don't run any noteworthy business lol.

You would rather MS risk not selling the game at all and get caught up in legalities versus selling it on more than one platform and revenue.

 

[Kenshin775]

I see 2024 CoD being the first game that comes to Game Pass Day 1. Once MS actually owns ABK they will use leverage to make it come to GP Day 1. What can Sony do if MS threatens to make future CoD games a 6 month xbox console exclusive instead of Day and date on PS5? They can't really do anything at that point. They will allow CoD 2024 to come to GP.

 

[DeepEnigma]

My dude, I'm real happy you don't run any noteworthy business lol.

You would rather MS risk not selling the game at all and get caught up in legalities versus selling it on more than one platform and revenue.

And risk not securing the deal with the FTC because they will show malice in breaking contracts, which is, anti-trust material.

 

[mejin]

"Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak" - Jim Ryan, The Art of Console War.

Spoiler: Bonus quote

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a $70B mistake"