Valve receives a draft of the Call of Duty contract but Gabe Newell says it is not necessary because Microsoft has always followed through.
Valve‘s own Gabe Newell has said that the 10-year Call of Duty contract from Microsoft is unnecessary. Valve’s Newell trusts that Microsoft will act on its promises, which is something Sony’s PlayStation hasn’t said, and wouldn’t say, about its competitor.
The American video game company Valve first became known in the late 90s for its hit video game series Half-Life. In addition to the first-person shooter that spawned one of the most popular esports franchises in the history of gaming, Counter-Strike, the company has developed critically-acclaimed titles such as Portal and Left 4 Dead. Nowadays most of the company’s fame and fortune comes from the video game platform Steam and accompanying products, such as Steam Deck.
According to Valve’s leader, Microsoft is a trustworthy company that generally acts on its promises. In a statement, Newell said that Microsoft’s collaboration with Steam for the longest time is “a signal” that the company is happy to keep working with Valve and Steam in the future. He confirmed that Valve received a draft of the 10-year Call of Duty contract that Microsoft had said it offered to PlayStation and other platforms. However, Valve’s Newell game had a couple of reasons why that is not necessary.
Newell iterated that Steam is not the kind of company that requires contracts that locks others into delivering them products for years to come. More importantly, for the narrative between Sony and Microsoft, the statement said that Microsoft has always been trustworthy with Steam and “followed through on what they told” Valve. Newell also acknowledged that Steam is a powerful platform, and Microsoft has all the incentives to be on the world’s largest video game distribution service for PC games.
Microsoft’s merger with Activision Blizzard was inked nearly a year ago, but it still hangs in the balance of the regulators. Microsoft has tried to soften the blow by offering a contract for Sony’s PlayStation and other platforms that would secure Call of Duty‘s same-day release for 10 years. Regulators, including FTC, European Commission, and UK’s Competition and Markets Authority are still undecided on the $64 billion acquisition. They are likely following what the tone of the conversation is, in which case this take from Newell is definitely a small win for Microsoft.
