The time of Microsoft playing dumb during the defense of its acquisition of Activision Blizzard has apparently come as the company is now claiming not to know when Call of Duty originally launched.
In a 37-page reply to the lawsuit brought about by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Microsoft states that not only does it not know when the franchise launched but that it has no information as to how valuable it is.
Microsoft avers that it lacks knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations concerning industry perceptions of Call of Duty and Call of Duty’s original release date; or as to the truth of the allegations concerning Call of Duty’s launch and typical release schedule and the resources and budget Activision allocates to Call of Duty, including the number of studios that work on Call of Duty.
To summarize and put the statement into layman’s terms, Microsoft is saying it has no knowledge of the size of the Call of Duty franchise. On top of that, it’s claiming that it wasn’t even made aware of when the series began.
Microsoft’s Defense Doesn’t Make Sense
Of course, all of that information can quickly be found by a quick search on the old Google machine. But that’s not the real point here. The real point is that Microsoft is expecting people to believe that prior to the announcement of its $68.7-billion — with a “B” — purchase of Activision Blizzard that it wasn’t given all of the details about the largest franchise it would be acquiring. It’s incredibly unlikely, and something many would be willing to put money on, that Microsoft, one of the largest companies in the world, wouldn’t get everything before agreeing to such a major purchase.
Related – Call of Duty: Mobile Removed And Readded Apple App Store
If Microsoft didn’t know the size of the Call of Duty franchise, then why would it offer Sony a 10-year deal to keep it on the PlayStation platform as well as sign an agreement with Nintendo to bring it back? Those types of deals just aren’t made without knowing how valuable a series is to not only gamers but competing companies as well.
Want more Insider Gaming? Check out our story on when the next-gen upgrade to The Witcher 3 is going to launch on Disc. For more Call of Duty news, do you know which Call of Duty is free?
