The long debate on what will happen to the Call of Duty franchise on the Sony PlayStation platform following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard last year has been settled, as Sony signed a 10-year deal with Microsoft to keep the Call of Duty franchise on PlayStation.

Considered a “binding agreement”, this contract is supposed to end the bitter battle between Sony and Microsoft regarding Call of Duty.

We are pleased to announce that Microsoft and @PlayStation have signed a binding agreement to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We look forward to a future where players globally have more choice to play their favorite games.

— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) July 16, 2023

“Even after we cross the finish line for this deal’s approval, we will remain focused on ensuring that Call of Duty remains available on more platforms and for more consumers than ever before,” Microsoft President and Vice Chairman Brad Smith said in a post, ensuring everyone that they will remain committed to make Call of Duty available across all platforms.

The deal with Sony is similar to the 10-year deal Microsoft has made with Nintendo to make the popular FPS game available to Nintendo players ahead of Microsoft’s hearing with EU regulators regarding its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

Prior to signing the agreement, it was a bitter battle between Sony and Microsoft, with the former maintaining its fears that the latter might sabotage the PlayStation version of Call of Duty–or worse, make the game exclusive to XBox users.

One of the reasons for the bitter battle is that PlayStation chief Jim Ryan told Activision CEO Bobby Kotick that the Microsoft-Activision acquisition is viewed as anti-competitive. Despite the accusations, Microsoft insisted that it intends to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, adding that it does not make any financial sense to pull it out from the platform.