The announcement comes after Microsoft on Friday defeated a last-ditch effort by the US Federal Trade Commission to scuttle the 1️⃣ company'sR$68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to grant the regulator an emergency stay 1️⃣ of a ruling that allows the deal to proceed in the US. The United Kingdom's Markets and Competition Authority (CMA) 1️⃣ is the last remaining regulator of note opposed to the purchase, but the watchdog and Microsoft recently agreed to put 1️⃣ their legal battle over the deal on hold and negotiate a compromise.

We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and @PlayStation 1️⃣ have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We look 1️⃣ forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games. — Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) July 1️⃣ 16, 2024

"From Day One of this acquisition, we’ve been committed to addressing the concerns of regulators, platform and game developers, 1️⃣ and consumers," Microsoft President and Vice Chair Brad Smith tweeted in response to Spencer's post. "Even after we cross the 1️⃣ finish line for this deal’s approval, we will remain focused on ensuring that Call of Duty remains available on more 1️⃣ platforms and for more consumers than ever before."

Spencer did not disclose the terms of Microsoft's deal with Sony, though Stephen 1️⃣ Totilo of Axios later confirmed that it is 10 years in duration. Microsoft first offered Sony a 10-year deal to 1️⃣ keep Call of Duty on current and future PlayStation consoles at the end of last year, though the Japanese electronics 1️⃣ giant turned down the olive branch at the time. In an effort to secure approval from regulators, including the FTC 1️⃣ and CMA, Microsoft went on to sign an agreement with Nintendo to bring the series to the company's future consoles. 1️⃣ It also came to terms with cloud gaming providers like NVIDIA.

Before today, Jim Ryan, the president and CEO of Sony 1️⃣ Interactive Entertainment, made clear he was strongly opposed to Microsoft's Activision bid. “I don’t want a new Call of Duty 1️⃣ deal. I just want to block your merger,” Ryan told Activision CEO Bobby Kotick. “I told him [Kotick] that I 1️⃣ thought the transaction was anti-competitive, I hoped that the regulators would do their job and block it,” Ryan later said 1️⃣ during his testimony at the FTC v. Microsoft hearing. But with the purchase all but set to move forward, Sony 1️⃣ likely had no choice but to come to terms with its rival.