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Head of Xbox Phil Spencer noted that both the Microsoft-owned platform and Sony have a desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. The internet has been heavily speculating about what the future of Call of Duty looks like following the news of Microsoft’s latest purchase. Some believe Xbox will make the massive shooter franchise an exclusive, while others think it’s far too big to be contained to just one platform and that it needs PlayStation to be sustainable.
With Microsoft buying Activision, the tech giant will have a wealth of IP to play with. It’s not limited in any way to classic franchises, meaning even if Call of Duty does stay multi-platform, there’s no shortage of other titles that Xbox can leverage as exclusives. Things like Crash Bandicoot, Overwatch, and more could all easily become Xbox exclusives, but the sheer magnitude of Call of Duty has many doubting if any of the involved parties want to limit its ability to blossom.
In a tweet, Phil Spencer said that Xbox and Sony had some calls after the news broke and both expressed the “desire” to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony still has some contracts with Activision regarding timed exclusive content and marketing rights for Call of Duty, and Microsoft plans to honor these deals. Whether Call of Duty will become an Xbox exclusive in the future is unclear, but it seems like, at least for the foreseeable future, the franchise will remain on PlayStation.
Of course, there could be some clever wording in Spencer’s tweet. It is possible Call of Duty will be leveraged by Xbox in a more significant way after Sony’s current deals lapse. It’s also entirely probable that Spencer is only referencing existing titles such as Call of Duty: Warzone, and that future mainline titles will be Xbox exclusive. As of right now, nothing is set in stone. Microsoft doesn’t officially own Activision yet, but the deal is expected to close by summer 2023.
Until then, Microsoft can’t make these decisions and instead only express desires. Xbox is already eyeing some Activision IP that it wants to utilize in some way in the future. The deal will hopefully allow for the publisher’s expansive list of franchises to have new life on Xbox. Most Activision studios are currently working on Call of Duty projects, so it’s likely Microsoft will be able to use its own teams and these new studios to inject some much-needed variety into Activision.
Source Phil Spencer/Twitter
