Microsoft's charm offensive with COD deals has reportedly paid off with the EU

pcgamer.com:

Microsoft's been on a tear recently, offering anyone and everyone 10-year Call of Duty contracts like it's going out of style. Nintendo and Nvidia have both penned deals with the US tech giant in recent months, ensuring that COD will keep appearing on those companies' platforms(opens in new tab) for at least a decade to come should Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard go through. Microsoft has also offered the same deal to Sony and Steam in the past, but those two shot it down, the former because it won't settle for anything less than stopping Microsoft's acquisition, and the latter because Gabe Newell didn't really see the point(opens in new tab).

But it turns out that might be enough for the EU. Three sources tell Reuters(opens in new tab) that Microsoft's deal spree will probably be enough «to address EU antitrust concerns» surrounding the Activision acquisition, clearing the way for European regulators to greenlight the deal at some point in the future. Of course, it's still likely that Sony will do whatever it can between now and then to change that.

The spate of COD deals have been part of an attempt by Microsoft to convince regulators across the world that it can be trusted to be a responsible steward of Activision's myriad properties. Many of Sony's complaints—and regulators' concerns—about the deal have revolved around the possibility that Microsoft might cut off its competitors' access to COD, a fear that Microsoft has been keen to assuage. Insofar as the EU is concerned, it seems to have worked.

I have to wonder if Sony might regret making such a fuss about COD in particular, rather than the broader implications of the deal as a whole. It's not that I don't believe Sony is worried about COD, but I've