Sony and Microsoft have been involved in an intense acquisition war for some time to consolidate their respective consoles. And in the midst of it all, PlayStation owners have had one particular fear ever since ActivisionBlizzard was bought: what would be the future of Call of Duty.
The maximum logic of an acquisition of this magnitude would obviously be to acquire the rights and potential exclusivity of all the company’s titles.
Among all the IPs that have perhaps the most popular in the console market would be, without a doubt, precisely that of Call of Duty. A saga that by its mere title sells millions of games year after year.
So when Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, speculation immediately focused on this franchise, since it naturally ran the risk of becoming an exclusive title for the company’s consoles.
But it seems that we finally have a certainty with positive news in the short and perhaps medium term.
There is Call of Duty for a while on the PlayStation
The owners of a PlayStation have been waiting for months for their most feared news to become official with the announcement of the exclusivity of this future game saga for Microsoft platforms.
But fortunately, as reported by our colleagues at TheVergethe head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, would have entered into a dialogue with Jim Ryan, the CEO of PlayStation.
Where it was confirmed that Call of Duty would not disappear from the Japanese console catalog upon completion of the purchase of Activision Blizzard. As was said months ago:
Had good calls this week with leaders at Sony. I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) January 20, 2022
“I had some good calls this week with the leadership at Sony. I confirmed our intention to honor all existing agreements following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.
Sony is an important part of our industry and we value our relationship.”
It’s what marked Phil Spencer himself through his official Twitter account in January 2022, making it official that nothing previously agreed between Sony and Activision Blizzard would be broken. Now this new report states that the stay of the game on both platforms would be for “several more years.”
This, for practical purposes, means that Call of Duty would remain on the PlayStation for at least the short to medium term for a few extra years.
Although inevitably his statement at both times poses a future scenario where Microsoft and Sony will have to achieve new joint agreements on this franchise.
It’s getting to that point where the future of Call of Duty could be at risk for the PlayStation. But it takes time for it to happen.