I'm still surprised that people are still surprised at (and some still denying) the importance of the CoD DLC timed exclusivity plus marketing deal for PlayStation. Why do you think MS held on to them for so long? It's one of the biggest franchises in mainstream console gaming, of course it's a very big deal.

edit: sorry it was not a 5 year deal
it was a 5 year extentions

http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=479305
the whole deal was 6 years. 1 intital year and the 5 years extention

same like the sony destiny deal and the ms ea (yearly franchise deal) deal

Uhm.  Looking at that article, the deal extended in 2010 was entered into in 2009 and the extension ran to 2012 at which point it was apparently extended to 2014.  And each of those deals/extensions probably cost and exorbitant amount of money.  My point still stands; Microsoft didn't spend all that money for the giggles.  They did it because they wanted to leverage the popularity of CoD to bolster their power in the console space.

they made the deal in 2009
2010 was the extension until at least 2012

i'm not sure about any details ofc, could be a 2 year extention with an option for 2 more.
could be a 4 years extension.  the only thing i know; there was no further announcement form activsion or ms, that they extended the extention in 2012. also there were rumors, that this deal would end in 2015 before the offical reveal, that sony is now marketing call of duty

and ofc they did not spend all that money for giggles.
cod became the biggest console game at that time.
but it it not at its hights anymore. BO III is activisions last shot. if they cant revive the franchise, im sure ms is gald about the end of the partnership and the saved money.

BO III will still be the biggest game this year for NA and Europe. But if Treyatch can't deliver with the Black Ops name, the Call of Duty franchise is in serious trouble. I know many people who plan to buy this game. Because its Black Ops, because its Treyarch, because it has Zombies. But if they won't have fun and get a good game, they won't buy the next Cod and the one after. and maybe never again any CoD game.
Sony made a huge bet here (we just don't know theire stake :D). I hope they win the bet.

The discounted Playstation camera already at #34

xone Halo 5 : 6th
Ps4 Batman : 8th
Xone Mcc : 20th
Ps4 destiny : 30th
Ps4 standalone: 41th
WiiU : 59th
Xone Mcc 1to : 74th.

CoD may not be at its zenith right now but it's still not in danger of total collapse or anything like that and is still one of gamings most powerful franchises.  And Sony made a bet sorta but not much of one; this was more of a follow up blow than anything else.  By taking CoD from MS, Microsofts only remaining close ally (as in marketing deals and potential timed exclusivity for stuff) is BethSoft.  All the other big players are on Sony's side.  

Not quite, I'd say EA is still more MS than Sony.

Maybe slightly.  But EA seems to be more interested in walking the line and not pissing anyone off.  The Madden thing is more due to an agreement between MS and the NFL, iirc.  But I wouldn't be surprised if EA starts to drift more and more to Sony in ways their current deals allow.

Yeah, EA is inbetween them. MS has FIFA and Madden, Sony has (this year) Battlefield and Battlefront. I guess it would be more correct to say that EA is on neithers side.