It was revealed this morning that Microsoft has made a formal offer to Sony, Nintendo and Valve to release Call of Duty games on their respective platforms within a decade of buying Activision Blizzard.
Sony, it seems, refused, agreed with Nintendo, and the head of Valve, Gabe Newell, seems to care. In a comment for my city he stated that he believed Phil Spencer without any agreements, and also did not consider himself a supporter of such contracts.
We’re excited that Microsoft wants to continue using Steam to grow the Call of Duty audience once the deal with Activision Blizzard closes. Microsoft has been on Steam for a long time, and we take this as a sign that they are pleased with the cooperation.
Microsoft made us an offer and even sent us a draft long-term agreement to release Call of Duty on Steam, but for Valve this is not seen as binding. We are not in favor of contracts that oblige partners to release their games on Steam for such a long period of time.
Phil Spencer and Microsoft’s gaming division have always followed exactly what they told us, so we have full confidence in their intentions. We also believe that Microsoft is motivated to release Call of Duty on the devices that users want to see the series on.
In the near future, the final decision on the deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard will be made by the US Federal Trade Commission. In fact, this is a key “barrier” before the approval of the transaction.