When Microsoft announced that it would be the new owner of ActivisionBlizzard In January of this same year, 2022, the question that immediately arose was what would happen to the Call of Duty saga.
This franchise for years, decades, has coexisted on practically all platforms (except Nintendo), from the PC, through the Xbox and reaching the PlayStation across three generations of consoles.
In 2003 this series of games became a spiritual successor to the legacy that was cemented with the legendary Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. And to date it is a dynasty that in one way or another has been endorsing itself.
Now with the news of the aggressive acquisition by Microsoft, there have been months of absolute uncertainty where it is not known what to expect about the launch of future games of this IP.
The company behind the Xbox, the new owner of this and other titles, has sought emphasize that Call of Duty will not leave the Sony platform, but the details have been gradually changing over time.
This factor has created greater confusion, so the head of this project had to come out and speak to calm the waters.
Call of Duty will exist on the PlayStation as long as there is a console on the market, says Phil Spencer
The most recent known turn of events ensured that we would have Call of Duty on the PlayStation 5 for years.
Although the matter of the commercial agreements that Sony and Microsoft would have to negotiate once the agreements signed before the acquisition with Activision Blizard expired remained in limbo.
Fortunately, we now have more potential certainty, after Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft Gaming and CEO of Xbox, was interviewed for the podcast Same Brainwhere he revealed his final position on the matter:
“We are not going to take Call of Duty from PlayStation. That is not our intention. And as long as there is a PlayStation to release games to, we intend to continue to release Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms.”
The idea, as revealed by the executive, is to repeat the strategy that they implemented with Minecraft at the time, where they have increased the number of platforms where this title can be played and have never reduced it.
The fear of the owners of a PlayStation is that Call of Duty becomes an exclusive title for PC and Xbox, but the intention in the end would then be to expand the presence and availability of this FPS franchise.
It will be interesting to see if they manage to fulfill their objective and their word.