A store urged customers to think twice about their choice of gaming console in the wake of Microsoft‘s historic acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
Belgian retail chain Cora allegedly placed signs on its PlayStation 5 shelves, warning customers to reconsider their purchase of a PlayStation 5. A translation of the sign reads, “Notice to gamers, Microsoft has bought Activision! Choose your machine carefully.” Below the warning, a handwritten note specifically mentions the Call of Duty franchise, a massively popular series of first-person shooters that Microsoft acquired as part of its buyout of Activision Blizzard.
Apparently some retail store across globe have started putting up Notice for customers of Call of Duty.
*Translation – Notice to gamers, Microsoft has bought Activision! Choose your machine carefully #XboxActivisionBlizzard pic.twitter.com/P0RPU37uWL
— 🐉🎮HazzadorGamin, Dragon Of Dojima Gamin🎮🐉 (@HazzadorGamin) January 28, 2022
The notice might have been jumping the gun, as CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer confirmed that Call of Duty would remain multiplatform after he “had good calls this week with leaders at Sony.” He also vowed Xbox would honor all previous agreements held between Activision Blizzard and the Japanese tech giant, writing, “Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our friendship.”
While it remains unclear if the store notice was disseminated throughout all Cora branches, Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are already in the process of finalizing the acquisition in question. With an astounding $68.7 billion price tag, the deal is set to hand Microsoft control of not only the creators of World of Warcraft but all of its subsidiary companies. This includes Call of Duty veterans Treyarch and Infinity Ward, the developers of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, respectively. Though the deal isn’t set to close until June 2023, both Microsoft’s and Activision Blizzard’s boards of directors have already given their approval.
Though Activision Blizzard is by far the biggest purchase to date, it isn’t the only name on Microsoft’s growing list of buyouts. In 2021, the company finalized its $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the parent company of Bethesda Softworks — creators of the venerable Elder Scrolls series.
“It’s not about punishing any other platform,” Spencer assured when asked about future releases, further stating he believes there was room in the market for all platforms to thrive. “But in order to be on Xbox, I want us to be able to bring the full complete package of what we have. And that would be true when I think about Elder Scrolls VI. That would be true when I think about any of our franchises.”
Source: Twitter, via Video Games Chronicle
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