“Is this the end of PlayStation?” we dramatically pondered in a 2022 article, after Xbox had announced its intent to acquire Activision Blizzard for a near-$70 billion.

“This isn’t just a haymaker or a right hook,” we continued, “it’s the manufacturer slumped against the ropes, blood dripping from its mouth, while it desperately gasps for air.”

In our defence, the acquisition did seem apocalyptic at the time.

Microsoft had already bought Bethesda and signalled its intent to make its games exclusive, and we were expecting something similar from its purchase of Activision Blizzard. (“Call of Duty: Warzone, like Fallout 76, may remain,” we opined. “But everything else is almost certainly gone for good.”)

Three years later and the deal has closed, but Sony has its Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 bundle again. In fact, it’s flogging it for $399 as part of Days of Play, which is $30 less than a 1TB Xbox Series S on its own.

We may have been overly dramatic in the above quotes – the news was still raw when we wrote that – but we don’t think anyone could have possibly anticipated this outcome when the deal was announced. Perhaps not even Microsoft themselves.

So, what has happened? Well, Xbox spent unfathomable sums of money which attracted the attention of the powers-to-be, and once said executives saw how much cash Call of Duty was generating on PlayStation, it quickly reversed course on exclusives.

Now a third-party publisher, all Microsoft cares about is selling as many copies of its games as possible – regardless of console.

And Sony, of course, still sees selling power in Blacks Ops 6, and value in getting its console into as many homes as possible. So, it was only too happy to drop a few bags of cash on Activision Blizzard’s doorstep, and purchase a bunch of copies of the shooter to pop into compelling console bundles.