With various jurisdictions worldwide working to approve or reject the Xboxoffer to purchase Activision Blizzard, the US government has requested testimony from Nintendo that may take up to seven hours. South Africa recently joined a growing list of countries to approve the Xbox acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The US may be looking to speed up the process with more information fromNintendoregarding Microsoft’s 10-year plan forCall of Duty.
As part of the litigation of Xbox looking to acquire Activision Blizzard, the company laid out a 10-year plan for theCall of Dutyfranchise should it take ownership of the publisher that controls the rights to the IP. Beyond offering to continue bringingCall of Dutytitles to PlayStationfor the 10-year period, Xbox also hinted at a strategy of introducing the series to Nintendo Switch, a platform that currently has none of the Activision Blizzard FPS games. If Xbox were to take control of Activision Blizzard, this could result in some big gains for Nintendo, but the US government is still looking to learn more about the plan moving forward and what it entails.
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The US Federal Trade Commission has subpoenaed Nintendo of America Vice President of publisher and developer relations, Steven Singer, to provide his testimony regarding Xbox’s 10-year plan. According to the US FTC, Singer is the Nintendo executive responsible for negotiating some of the potential benefits that the Japanese company and its fans may see as Activision Blizzard is absorbed by Xbox. The FTC learned on March 16 that Singer was the executive negotiating with Xbox on behalf of Nintendo which may have inspired the insert aboutCall of Dutyappearing on the Nintendo Switchin the future as part of the decade-long strategy of bringing the franchise to more players.
Nintendo of America’s Steven Singer wasn’t subpoenaed until around March 29, highlighting the lengthy campaign that Xbox has undertaken in order to purchase Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. One of theprimary concerns that PlayStation has hadabout this exchange is the potential competition issues that may result in a future date in whichCall of Dutyis exclusive to the Xbox platform. The subpoenaing of Singer could make the case last longer than Xbox initially expected as the subpoena was issued after the deadline of March 3, a 26-day difference, but the FTC considers the testimony necessary to the case.
Because Xbox’s 10-year plan is a crucial aspect of this deal moving forward, the US FTC intends to ask Singer a series of questions that could help move things along or hinder the purchase entirely depending on what revelations are presented. As the subpoena comes several days after the deadline and includes potentially seven hours of litigation, it’s currently unclear how much longerthe Xbox acquisition of Activision Blizzardlegal saga will continue.
