But, while Nintendo and Sony might need a formal agreement, Gabe Newell doesn’t care for it at all.
In a statement sent to Kotaku, Newell expressed his delight that “Microsoft wants to continue using Steam to reach customers with Call of Duty when their Activision acquisition closes.” He also mentioned that the two companies have worked together for a long time, emphasizing that it is Valve’s job to keep “all Steam customers and partners” happy, not just Microsoft. Later on in the statement is when Newell goes full Valve, saying: TLDR; Newell knows Valve is where everyone’s at and Microsoft will continue to do what is in its best interest. Sony might like everyone, especially regulators, to believe that giving Microsoft the keys to the Call of Duty franchise is a death knell to competition, but its argument is far from solid. On the other hand, Newell might have just dealt the killing blow necessary for his former employer to convince regulators to approve the deal. By basically telling Microsoft, “don’t worry, we trust you”, Valve is also telling regulators to do the same. Although they might not be inclined to believe based on Newell’s words alone, his argument is clear and concise. It’s every company’s job to do what pads their bottom line, both in the short-term and the long-term. Call of Duty is a franchise that’s sold 425 million copies, as of the time of writing. It joins 11 other franchises in the 200 million club and the only ones that aren’t available on multiple platforms are Mario and Pokemon at 760.21 million and 440 million, respectively. You’ll need to go all the way down to the 80-million-mark to find the two other platform-exclusive franchises in Halo and Gran Turismo. Unless Microsoft is confident that whatever Xbox successor is out two console generations from now can outsell its PlayStation counterpart by then - the PS6 is expected to be out by 2028 - it wouldn’t bother inking Sony to a ten-year deal. Nintendo has yet to officially address Microsoft’s commitment to bringing Call of Duty to its platforms. But, if it does happen, we don’t think it’ll be anytime soon unless we see Nintendo release the Switch Pro and/or its successor in the next year. If the Switch and its many variants are already struggling to run Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, we doubt it’ll fare any better with a recent Call of Duty game.
