Microsoft says it proposed consent decree on ‘Call of Duty’ games to FTC

(Reuters) – Microsoft Chairman Brad Smith said on Tuesday the company had offered to sign a legally binding consent decree with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission to provide “Call of Duty” games to competitors , notably Sony and others, for a decade.

The rejected offer, Smith said, was made just before the FTC sued Microsoft last week in an attempt to block the tech giant’s $69 billion takeover bid for the games publisher video Activision Blizzard Inc.

The deal has drawn criticism from Sony, maker of the PlayStation console, which fears Xbox maker Microsoft could take control of games such as the “Call of Duty” series and make them exclusive to Microsoft devices. Microsoft dismissed these concerns, saying it wouldn’t make financial sense to exclude users from competing devices.

Smith, speaking at Microsoft’s annual shareholder meeting, said he was disappointed that the FTC did not take more time to review the proposed consent decree before filing suit .

The FTC declined to comment on Smith’s remarks, but said generally it was still willing to consider the proposals.

In a move of brutal criticism, Microsoft this month concluded a 10-year commitment to bring “Call of Duty” to Nintendo platforms. The company made the same offer to Sony.

The FTC lawsuit threw a stumbling block to the tech giant’s plans to quickly expand its portfolio of popular games and catch up with its biggest rivals.

The deal is also facing scrutiny outside the United States. The European Union opened an in-depth investigation in November, while the EU’s competition watchdog said it would decide by March 23, 2023 whether to allow or block the deal.

Britain’s antitrust regulator announced in September that it would launch a full-scale investigation.

(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru, Diane Bartz in Washington and Paresh Dave in San Francisco; editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Lincoln Feast.)