During the first day of proceedings in the current case between the FTC and Microsoft, a number of major reveals were put on the record. One such reveal was that Activision wanted a higher revenue share from Microsoft in order to keep putting Call of Duty on Xbox consoles.
The revelation came during Xbox vice president Sarah Bond’s testimony on Thursday afternoon.
Bond said that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick stated that if Microsoft didn’t “move beyond standard revenue share” the company had no intent to put the series on the new Xbox console (Xbox Series X|S).
“It was clear that Call of Duty would be on PS5 and that would not have been good if it was not also on Xbox if it was launching at the same time,” Bond said during her testimony.
She added: “Time was limited. We had players whose expectations we wanted to meet, so we ultimately made a decision that it was the best thing for the business.”
In addition to the game being on the platform, Bond said that the marketing agreements between Microsoft and Activision for Call of Duty Vanguard in 2021 had limitations placed on it.
“A year ago we wanted to show that Call of Duty Vanguard was launching on Xbox, we were told we could not say it on YouTube or any other place where customers who were not our own customers could see it, and we had to hold for a period of time,” Bond stated.
She said, also, that the company wasn’t able to state at the end of a showcase that aired on YouTube that Microsoft wasn’t able to say Call of Duty was coming to Xbox.
Insider Gaming has been covering day one of the court case and will be covering the events throughout the five-day trial that is set to conclude on June 29.
What do you think of all of the information coming out regarding Microsoft, Activision, and Call of Duty?
