In a turbulent week with the announcement that Microsoft is set to acquire Activision-Blizzard, one of the subjects which was spoken about a lot was the possible exclusivity of Call of Duty. Today, CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer revealed their intentions regarding Activision’s biggest gaming property. On Twitter he shared the following: ”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.”
While it was already expected – due to the Zenimax/Bethesda acquisition precedent – that service titles such as Call of Duty: Warzone would remain on PlayStation. This Tweet by Phil Spencer could mean future Call of Duty titles will also release on PlayStation consoles. Which could be due to existing marketing deals between Activision Blizzard and Sony regarding the first person shooter franchsie.
I do believe Phil and Xbox want for real to keep Call of Duty on Playstation, but in someway they will use this to put Xbox Live there.
As I said in another thread, I’m expecting only evasive answers until the acquisition is finished. Phil cannot talk for Activision before everything is approved legally.
I still see reasons to keep with Call of Duty on PS5 and reasons to leave, and his statements saying that he wants ActBlizz studios to do what they want is a signal that Call of Duty will not have the support it needs to be annual.
I know there’s a lot of concern among a lot of you, so, let me clear things up.
I fully intend to honor all existing thread-posting agreements on XboxEra. XboxEra forums are an important part of our industry, and I value our relationship.
He says he want to keep CoD on playstation not that it will happen or that they reached an agreement. He might only offer CoD on PS (minus Warzone) through gamepass. Basically, they need to allow gamepass to get CoD.
Xbox has the leverage here and it will be interesting to see how it plays out.
I think it is about more than money. If it was about money the easy strategy would be put new CoDs on PS4 but not PS5. That would get the vast majority of PS sales but also promote Xbox for Next-gen.
I think it is about pushing gamepass like I said above.
Honestly I don’t care what happens to this exclusive talk. Xbox has the leverage in any of this. But what gets me grinning like an idiot is the fact that Sony’s goal (according to Rand is to kill the Xbox brand this gen) is now unachievable.
Desire to me means it is not a sure thing. Phil could have just said we have no intention of removing CoD from playstation and will not be doing so…
He said desire because he wants to work out a deal. Sony hasn’t accepted it yet. The terms of the deal are unknown obviously but sounds like a gamepass play to me.
Our desire: We want to keep CoD on PlayStation (with the possible caveat if we get Game Pass on PS5, Spartacus on Xbox, you stop the moneyhats, etc.)
To keep: CoD not being delisted is keeping. Warzone staying is keeping.
Call of Duty: Not “Activision Blizzard’s properties”, CoD. While Overwatch 2 and Diablo 4 are likely to hit PS4 due to their commitments, again, for the other IP, this says nothing. I expect Crash, Guitar Hero, the reboots, etc. to be exclusive to Game Pass wherever that is offered.
Note, he does not say Day and Date. Possibility of timed exclusivity as well.
It occurs to me that it’s to Microsoft’s advantage to keep the gaming sphere buzzing over this as much as possible. Even by issuing tantalizingly vague statements. The more headlines and social media talk, the more people associate Call of Duty with Xbox. Even if nothing changes (and we know it won’t for at least 2 more years).
In this situation, I would rather Xbox, mainly Phil, just be quiet until the deal is done. He legally cannot say much and saying “desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation” can be interpreted in so many different ways its not even worth discussing.