Activision Blizzard's lawyers say Call of Duty's exclusivity to Battle.net was a total failure, but the FPS series' Steam success complicates that narrative.
Call of Duty's Battle.net exclusivity was a 'resounding failure' for the FPS game's growth, according to Microsoft's legal team. That may sound like a harsh assessment, but it's not entirely without merit. Activision's decision to release new CoD games exclusively on Activision Blizzard's platform instead of Steam did seemingly limit the series' availability and, certainly, the numbers don't look great. However, they don't tell the whole story either, and the numbers provided by Microsoft's legal team may be a little misleading.
Activision Blizzard struck an agreement with Microsoft to keep Call of Duty exclusively on Battle.net from 2018 until 2022. Although this meant that Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0 were only available via the Windows PC storefront, the latter two installments of the series were eventually released on Steam.
Despite the initial setback, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 remains one of Steam's top 10 bestsellers and most-played games, suggesting that the series' success on Valve's platform has continued despite Activision's initial move to restrict it to Battle.net. However, Microsoft argues that this success is actually a product of Call of Duty's exclusivity on Battle.net, and that Activision wasn't able to meet any of its sales expectations as a result.
'Despite the popularity of the first CoD: Warzone and the increase in CoD's overall user base, the [Battle.net] MAUs remained flat during the period of Call of Duty's exclusivity,' Microsoft's legal team says, referring to Call of Duty: Warzone, the first game in the series to be a Battle.net exclusive.
'This is particularly surprising given the success of the first CoD: Warzone and the increase in CoD's overall MAUs. However, this lack of growth is consistent with Blizzard's own decline in monthly active users (MAUs) which dropped from 35 million in 2018 to 22 million in 2021. The MAU numbers have since fluctuated between 22 and 27 million, but they are not growing despite the success of the first CoD: Warzone and the increase in CoD's overall user base.'
Microsoft's legal team adds that it's 'entirely plausible' that Call of Duty's exclusivity on Battle.net hindered its success, particularly considering its performance on Steam. Activision is hardly the only company to return to Steam recently, indicating the platform's continued popularity.
So, yes, Call of Duty's Battle.net exclusivity likely kept it from reaching its potential, but Microsoft's legal team is being pretty selective with their numbers. It's true that Activision's decision to keep CoD off of Steam stunted its growth, but the series' performance on Valve's platform is equally important.
The judge in the case has already denied the FTC's request for an injunction to block Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard, potentially allowing the deal to proceed. Now, it looks as though the two companies will enter a period of discussions with the UK regulator that previously blocked the deal.
Call of Duty remains exclusive to Battle.net, but the outcome of Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard remains uncertain.
