Activision CEO Threatened to Skip Call of Duty on Xbox Over Higher Than Standard Revenue Share
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has said that the publisher had no intent to put Call of Duty on the Xbox Series X|S if Microsoft would disagree with a new revenue share deal.
That's what Microsoft's Corporate Vice President Sarah Bond said during her testimony in the ongoing case between the FTC and Microsoft/Activision-Blizzard yesterday. According to Bond, Kotick demanded a higher-than-standard revenue share for Call of Duty on Xbox. Apparently, the regular split is 70/30 while the Activision CEO demanded an 80/20 share to put the shooting franchise on Microsoft's consoles.
“If we did not move beyond standard revenue share that he [Bobby Kotick] intended to not place Call of Duty on Xbox", Bond has claimed.
Microsoft's Corporate VP added, "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 that Microsoft was sort of forced to cut a new revenue deal for Call of Duty. “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.”
Interesting pieces of information have been coming from the FTC/Microsoft trial. Yesterday, the first witnesses in the ongoing case were heard, including Bethesda's Pete Hines, who confirmed that MachineGames' upcoming Indiana Jones game will be an Xbox/PC exclusive. In addition, court documents revealed that Microsoft has admitted that it has lost the console wars.
The second day of the trial will kick off later today at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Time. During the five-day trial, we still expect to hear from Xbox boss Phil Spencer, Sony's PlayStation head Jim Ryan, Activision's Bobby Kotick, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and various other executives.
We'll share more information about the trial as soon as information comes in. For now, stay tuned.
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