Microsoft offers Sony 10-year contract for 'Call of Duty' releases on PlayStation - WSJ

FILE PHOTO: Attendees walk past a Microsoft Xbox sign opposite a Sony PlayStation sign at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, in Los Angeles, California, United States, June 16, 2015. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

(Reuters) - Microsoft has offered Sony a 10-year contract to make each new "Call of Duty" release available on PlayStation the same day it comes to Xbox, according to an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal on Monday from a Microsoft executive.

Sony's gaming chief Jim Ryan said in September that Microsoft's earlier offer to keep the popular game series made by Activision Blizzard on PlayStation for three years after the current agreement expires was inadequate.

Xbox maker Microsoft's latest offer to Sony comes as it faces increased regulatory scrutiny over its $69 billion buyout deal for Activision Blizzard.

The offer, made in January, has attracted regulatory headwinds in the European Union, Britain and in the United States, with Sony criticizing the deal and even calling for a regulatory veto.

Reuters reported last month that Microsoft's remedy would consist mainly of a 10-year licensing deal to Playstation owner Sony.

"The main supposed potential anticompetitive risk Sony raises is that Microsoft would stop making 'Call of Duty' available on the PlayStation. But that would be economically irrational," Microsoft President Brad Smith said in the WSJ opinion piece.

Microsoft also said on Monday it was raising the prices of new Xbox games to $70 from $60 starting in 2023, according to a company spokesperson.

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)