Microsoft's acquisition of publishing giant Activision, which is expected to close in the middle of next year, has begun to cast a shadow over gamers as the future of the Call of Duty series remains largely unknown.

Regulators are still closely scrutinizing Microsoft's Activision merger deal that cost the Xbox owner nearly $70 billion, led by the UK regulator CMA and the European Union, as Microsoft has only secured approval from Saudi Arabia and Brazil among the 16 regulators working on its review of the deal.

Regulators are concerned that this deal could harm competition, and here specifically its biggest competitor, Sony, by depriving it of the Call of Duty series or controlling its fate in a way that affects fair competition due to the popularity of the shooter.

According to Reuters, Microsoft is preparing to make further concessions to European regulators in order to gain their approval to close the acquisition deal. It is not yet clear what those concessions are, but they could include securing guarantees for the continuation of Call of Duty on PlayStation for 10 years. As the company previously reported, a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters:

Sony, as an industry leader, says it's concerned about Call of Duty, but we've said we're committed to having the same game available on the same day on Xbox and PlayStation.

We want people to have more access to games, not less.

We are expected to witness the successful or unsuccessful end of this deal by mid-2003 when all approvals from all regulatory bodies are expected to be obtained.