Photo: Fábio Silva
By: Nick Gambino
With Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard for close to $70 billion, worrying that that means the end for Call of Duty on PlayStation is a valid concern. It seems you can put those worries to rest as Bloomberg reports Microsoft intends to release the next three Call of Duty games for Xbox and PlayStation.
The titles earmarked for a PlayStation release are Warzone 2 (2023) and the main Call of Duty titles in 2022 and 2023. What the future holds after that is unknown, though I think it would be a mistake to offer Call of Duty exclusively on the Xbox. Of course, that’s a very plausible scenario as they’ve done it before. It doesn’t make it any better of an idea.
You’re not going to bring as many customers over as you think by locking up the popular game. By excluding PlayStation players you’re effectively cutting your player base by half and providing the opposite of goodwill (is that badwill?). It’s like Samsung and Apple or Pepsi and Coke, their customer bases hate the other company’s products. Xbox and PlayStation players are rivals and a move to exclude one from playing one of the most popular games out there will only strengthen the hate.
Well, at least for now they’re extending their kindness to those lowly PlayStation peasants. The plan to release the next 3 Call of Duty titles on Sony’s console is in line with a tweet that went out care of Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft Gaming.
“Had good calls this week with leaders at Sony,” the Spencer tweet read. “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.”
So, whether it’s a contractual agreement or sheer goodwill, the popular first-person shooter shall remain on PlayStation for at least the foreseeable future. The tweet does allude to the fact that they would like to keep future titles on PlayStation, but I guess we’ll have to see how it all shakes out when contracts are inked and 2024 looms.
