Call of Duty's exclusivity deal with PlayStation supposedly ends in 2024

It's the fourth day of the well-documented FTC vs Microsoft court case. The Federal Trade Commission is suing Microsoft over its acquisition of Call of Duty's publisher, Activision Blizzard. During the proceedings, many Microsoft and Sony documents have been displayed that showcase both companies' plans for the future.

Unfortunately for Sony, while displaying documents to the public, some confidential information, redacted by a sharpie, was revealed because the scanner picked up on the hidden words and numbers. These documents were supplied by PlayStation chief Jim Ryan. Although the court tried to remove them quickly, they were already downloaded and published on the internet.

---

What confidential Call of Duty information was revealed to the public during the hearing?

PlayStation and Call of Duty have an exclusivity deal because Sony has paid Activision to give special treatment to their console owners. For years, PlayStation players have been getting exclusive content such as early multiplayer betas, in-game cosmetics, and more.

Sony faced a setback on the latest day of the court case as a lot of information that was supposed to be accessible only to the shareholders was revealed to the public. Some of these details include the development cost of Horizon Forbidden West and The Last of Us Part II, which cost $212 million and $220 million, respectively.

Furthermore, some of the redacted paragraphs highlighted that over a million PlayStation users in 2021 only played Call of Duty and no other titles, while six million gamers spent over 70% of their time on the FPS game.

The redacted words and numbers are slightly visible (Image via Sony)

A document that was uploaded by the court, which was promptly delisted, read:

“[T]he last game covered by the contract is a Call of Duty title to be released in late 2023,”

According to a sentence that was redacted using a sharpie but still visible on the scanner, the last game under the Call of Duty and PlayStation exclusivity deal is to be released this year, with the deal scheduled to end in 2024.

Modern Warfare III is heavily rumored to be the next game, set to be released in November of this year, and most likely the last title to have an exclusivity deal with PlayStation.

This means that all offers that only PlayStation gamers receive, such as PlayStation-only beta, early campaign access, exclusive cosmetic packs, and more, will cease to exist if the redacted documents are to be believed.