Microsoft reportedly offering Call of Duty on PS Plus: Future of subscription-based gaming explored

Microsoft has offered Sony the right to sell Call of Duty as part of the PS Plus subscription-based gaming service, according to a Bloomberg report.

This is a part of Microsoft's efforts to win regulatory approval for its $69 billion bid to purchase Activision Blizzard Inc., which the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is coming trying to prevent. This has forced the company to go all out with its offers.

Previously, Microsoft had reportedly offered a 10-year agreement to make Call of Duty available on PlayStation, which Sony did not accept.

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Call of Duty is a huge aspect of Microsoft's bid for Activision Blizzard

Microsoft had previously announced that Call of Duty games will be added to the Xbox Game Pass as soon as its acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. goes through.

The Xbox Game Pass currently leads the video game and cloud-gaming subscription market, offering bigger games than the PS Plus. Hence, to make the deal easier for Sony, Microsoft has offered to make the franchise available on the PS Plus.

Sony is yet to reply to Microsoft's latest proposal, but the chances of its acceptance are low. The company has accused its rival of trying to “lock in many consumers to Xbox” with its attempts to acquire Activision Blizzard Inc. It plans to keep Call of Duty as its partner, allowing the platform to have various exclusive features and bringing more players to PlayStation.

Sony has the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on its side as the commission announced its attempt to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. The deal is also currently under investigation by the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which could possibly delay the acquisition until the second half of 2023.

Here's what the CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, had to say about Sony's role in the proceedings earlier this week:

"Sony is trying to protect its dominance on the console. The way they grow is by making Xbox smaller. They have a very different view of the industry than we do. They don't ship their games day and date on PC, they do not put their games into their subscription when they launch their games, Sony is leading the dialogue around why the deal shouldn't go through."

The Xbox Game Pass currently has more than 25 million subscribers, considerably more than the PS Plus. If Call of Duty is added to Sony's offering, it will boost the subscription service's popularity by quite a lot.