Call of Duty Won’t Be Exclusive to Xbox, Says Phil Spencer
Call of Duty fans who play the game on PlayStation consoles were initially anxious about Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Since the official announcement, many gamers were waiting for confirmation on which gaming franchises would soon become Xbox exclusives.
When Microsoft acquired Bethesda Softworks a year ago, huge games such as The Elder Scrolls 6 and Starfield became console exclusives—PC and Xbox. Fortunately for PS players, it looks like they can continue to play Call of Duty on their devices.
“I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation,” said Head Executive Phil Spencer. “Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship.”
This is very good news for the gaming community. The Call of Duty franchise is a major regular revenue stream. Cutting this off just to hose down an industry rival on hardware sales does not make a lot of sense.
Moreover, it is also worth noting that Spencer only mentioned the Call of Duty franchise in his statement. He did not say anything about other massive Activision Blizzard titles, like Diablo, Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and many more With that said, it is highly likely that these titles might soon see themselves as Xbox exclusives. The fact that he only mentioned CoD speaks volumes.
Xbox users can still speculate that they will have the opportunity to play the games through a Game Pass subscription, if they have one. The same thing is not expected to happen on PlayStation. However, keeping the first-person franchise on different platforms is still a win for CoD fans in the long run.
This situation can change in the future, however. A new Call of Duty title could become Xbox exclusives, while the franchise’s free-to-play Warzone remains multi-platform.
Are you glad it won’t be exclusive to Xbox? Let us know in the comments below.