A month from release, there's something strange going on with the digital download offers of Call of Duty: Black Ops III on Xbox One. Microsoft has pulled the digital version of the game from several retailers, making it hard not to speculate that this has something to do with the loss of exclusivity to Sony this year.
Microsoft has pulled the digital version of Black Ops III from Amazon and its Xbox Game store, as confirmed through a series of email exchanges with Microsoft and Activision.
It was not too long ago when the curious activity was first spotted. Here's what Microsoft had to say about the delistings:
"We do not comment on the specific terms of our arrangements with any of our publishing partners, however we are actively engaged with Activision to return 'Call of Duty: Black Ops III' to the Xbox Store," states Microsoft. "In the meantime, fans can pre-order 'Call of Duty: Black Ops III' for Xbox One or Xbox 360 from any of a host of retail partners here."
For advanced orders placed before the mass delisting, Microsoft is expected to honor pre-orders of the digital version of Black Ops III. There's a good chance that this is all posturing and Microsoft could restore the digital options for Black Ops III before its Nov. 6 launch date.
Sony's fingerprints are all over the latest entry into the Call of Duty franchise. Back home in Japan, the game maker has secured the rights to publish the game for the PlayStation. That's a first, as Square Enix was previously tasked with distributing the game for PlayStation in Japan.
Beyond the publishing rights, Sony also announced during E3 this year that it had secured exclusivity from Activision. While the game will launch on current and last gen consoles at the same time, downloadable content will arrive on PlayStation first.
Traditionally, Microsoft has held some form of exclusivity with Call of Duty games and has used its relationship with Actvision to move consoles from warehouses to homes.
So, with Sony now getting special treatment from Actvision and Microsoft claiming responsibility for the delisting of digital downloads, these latest developments look like a power play. But with all of the effort Microsoft has put into pushing digital, this move only appears to hurt Xbox One owners and the reasoning for the delisting may be something else entirely.
