One year ago this month, Microsoft announced it would spend $68.7 billion to acquire the publisher of Call of Duty and other popular games. Microsoft's lawyers are pretending they don't know why Call of Duty is special now that regulators are worried about it.
Even when it came out.
This laughable passage was included in the company's reply to the FTC lawsuit.
Microsoft avers that it lacks knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations concerning industry perceptions of Call of Duty and Call of Duty’s original release date; or as to the truth of the allegations concerning Call of Duty’s launch and typical release schedule and the resources and budget Activision allocates to Call of Duty, including the number of studios that work on Call of Duty.
How long would it take for Call of Duty to be figured out?
I don't believe for a second that Microsoft doesn't have more obscure details, like the budgets and rough headcounts of Call of Duty studios.
Prior to Microsoft announcing it would spend $68 billion on the company, the due diligence on the transaction likely included the disclosure of those details. I think Microsoft has a lot of opposition research as well. I found a 67-page document from Microsoft's "Gaming Business Planning & Strategy Team" that broke down all of Microsoft's main competitors in a number of ways.
This is absolutely stupid from Microsoft.
Phil Spencer, Microsoft's gaming boss, has insisted that the Call of Duty franchise will stay on rival consoles, despite the fact that it has been a thorn in Microsoft's side for a long time. If you are interested, you should give it a listen.
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