Why Has 'Call of Duty: Black Ops III' Vanished From The Xbox Live Store?

This is one of the weirder stories I’ve seen this fall, and it involves what will likely be the biggest game of the year, Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

Something strange has happened where it’s no longer possible to pre-order or pre-purchase Black Ops III from Microsoft ’s Xbox Live store. Though the listing for the game is still there, there is no longer any option for fans to buy the game digitally. You can rate it, and "pin it to home," but there simply is no button to purchase or pre-order the game.

The game is now listed as “bundle only” and that it’s “available for pre-order at your local retailer.” Microsoft and Activision have both issued statements that acknowledge some issue exists, but they’re being extremely cagey about what exactly is going on.

“We do not comment on the specific terms of our arrangements with any our publishing partners, however we are actively engaged with Activision to return Call of Duty: Black Ops III to the Xbox Store," a Microsoft spokesperson told me. "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."

Activision is apparently putting the onus on Microsoft, saying the game being de-listed isn’t their call:

"Activision did not remove the digital version of Call of Duty: Black Ops III from the Xbox Games Store," an Activision spokesperson told me in an official statement. "Black Ops III is ready for launch on November 6th and is the most anticipated game of the year. Black Ops III is available for pre-order or pre-purchase through our other retail partners worldwide."

It’s no secret that Activision and Microsoft haven’t exactly been the best of friends lately. For a year now, Activision has had a partnership with Sony for exclusive Destiny content on PlayStation, and as of E3, Sony announced that it had taken over Microsoft’s previous Call of Duty deal and was now the “new home” of the series. That arrangement includes things like early access to betas and DLC.

From the statements issued, it would seem Activision may have made some kind of specific demand for digital copies of the game sold in the Xbox Live store, and as a result, Microsoft has taken the game down until they can hammer out a compromise. I would have thought these kinds of digital distribution deals would be fairly standard at this point, but with how much power the Call of Duty franchise has, maybe they’re in the position to make extra demands.

Whatever the case, it’s obviously in the best interest of both parties to resolve the issue as soon as possible. Call of Duty obviously wants people buying it on Xbox digitally, and Xbox obviously wants the capacity to sell Black Ops III online. The game comes out in a little less than a month (November 6th), so there’s certainly time to resolve the problem, but it’s definitely one of the stranger situations I’ve seen with a AAA release in quite some time.

Both statements that were given to me above had already been issued elsewhere, but my attempts to extract further details have been fruitless so far. I’ll update this post if I hear more, or if this manages to resolve itself.

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