On January 20, shortly after Microsoft announced the purchase of Activision Blizzard, those from Redmond announced that the next games of Call of Duty they will continue to see the light on consoles PlayStation. However, the careful words used by Phil Spencer, director of Xbox, left the way open for another type of interpretation. Now the company has come out to resolve any doubts regarding the issue.
the surprise release It comes amid concerns from US regulators, which will scrutinize the Activision Blizzard purchase closely to make sure Microsoft doesn’t breach antitrust rules. It is clear that those led by Satia Nadella want to avoid any problems surrounding the acquisition, and speak out about the future Call of Duty goes along that line.
“We also recognize that regulators may have other important questions as they review our acquisition of Activision Blizzard. We are committed to addressing as many questions as possible, and we want to address them publicly early on,” they said.
Thus, Microsoft has resolved two key questions about the next installments of Call of Duty. The first is that will abide by any existing agreement between Activision and Sony involving the aforementioned franchise. It is well known that these companies have teamed up so that recent games of Call of Duty offer access to exclusive content on PlayStation consoles. These agreements will not be altered in any way.
Now, what will happen when the agreement between Activision and Sony comes to an end? According to Microsoft, the titles of Call of Duty will continue to release on PlayStation. In other words, little or nothing is going to change compared to the current situation.
“To be clear, Microsoft will continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles are available on PlayStation during the term of any existing agreement with Activision. And we’ve made a commitment to Sony that we’ll also make them available to PlayStation beyond the deal that already exists so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love.”
On the other hand, Microsoft has not forgotten Nintendo, with whom it will maintain a relationship similar to that of Sony. “We are interested in taking similar steps to support Nintendo’s successful platform. We believe this is the right thing to do for the industry, for players and for our business..”
Is Microsoft’s position surprising? Not at all. First, convert to Call of Duty in an Xbox-exclusive franchise it could attract the eyes of regulators; those of Redmond want to avoid any obstacle. Also, the real bet of the company is to offer the new games of Call of Duty on Xbox Game Pass on day one. Why then give up revenue from PlayStation? It wouldn’t make any sense…
Sony, in fact, will follow a similar strategy after buying Bungie. destiny 2 will not leave Xbox consoles and the studio’s upcoming games won’t be PlayStation exclusives.