Phil Spencer, the head of Microsoft’s video game division, has announced the company’s commitment to carry the saga call of duty to both Nintendo consoles (including the Switch) and Steam for the next ten years. As long as, yes, the purchase goes ahead.
This agreement comes at a time when the different regulators are evaluating Microsoft’s purchase of Activision Blizzard with a magnifying glass. Said organizations fear that the sale of the company –with key franchises in the sector such as call of duty– could destabilize the video game industry and severely damage rival companies such as Sony or Nintendo.
The North American company, given these concerns, has also offered to carry call of duty to Sony consoles for the next ten years – including, theoretically, the entire life cycle of PlayStation 5 and, theoretically, the early days of PlayStation 6 (or PS6). In addition, Microsoft is committed to maintaining call of duty available on Steam as well as in its own store.
A major unknown regarding the arrival of call of duty to Nintendo Switch is if the console will be able to run the same version that Activision Blizzard currently offers on both Xbox and PC and Playstation 5. In relation to this, Phil Spencer has assured in statements to The Washington Post that the company has experience both bringing titles to Nintendo consoles and developing cross-platform games.
The fact that the agreements proposed by Microsoft have a duration of ten years does not imply that, once said period has elapsed, the company will immediately withdraw the titles of other platforms. Phil Spencer has stressed on several occasions that this number is specified for legal reasons, but the company’s intention is to go further.
The success of ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2’ shows the importance it has
The launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 it has been an absolute successapproaching in just one week the total sales of Call of Duty: Vanguard, his predecessor. It has also quickly established itself among the best-selling video games of the year, despite having only been on sale for a few weeks.
Those excellent figures are a great reflection of the importance that the saga has in the sector and how the restriction of the title to a single console – Microsoft’s – could affect the dynamics of the industry – pushing millions of users from one platform to another.
Microsoft, however, has insisted on its commitment to maintain call of duty on other platforms, despite the doubts of both regulators and their competition (Sony). Will the American company manage to convince all these players and close the purchase in 2023, as planned?