Ever since it was announced that Microsoft is planning to buy out Activision, many gamers have been worried about what might end up happening to Call of Duty. Assuming that the acquisition goes through, Microsoft will own the franchise, and in theory, could decide to make it an Xbox exclusive - something which Sony has previously expressed concerns about.
However, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has claimed plenty of times that there’s nothing to worry about, and he’s now reiterated again that the series will be staying on Sony’s consoles for “as long as players want to play Call of Duty on PlayStation”.
Check out some new gameplay footage from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II below.
Speaking on The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Spencer revealed he has “no issue” making a longer term commitment to Sony: “This idea that we would write a contract that says the word ‘forever’ in it I think is a little bit silly, but to make a longer term commitment that Sony would be comfortable with, regulators would be comfortable with, I have no issue with that at all,” he said.
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“We think Call of Duty will be on PlayStation as long as players want to play Call of Duty on PlayStation. And that’s not a competitive threat against PlayStation, that’s just a pragmatic way of looking at it.”
He continued, explaining that there’s no catch: “Native Call of Duty on PlayStation, not linked to them having to carry Game Pass, not streaming. If they want a streaming version of Call of Duty we could do that as well, just like we do on our own consoles,” he said. “Sony does not have to take Game Pass on their platform to make that happen. There’s nothing hidden. We want to continue to ship Call of Duty on PlayStation without any kind of weird ‘aha I figured out the gotcha’.”
So, don’t panic, it seems that PlayStation users can rest easy for now. Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision still hasn’t actually been finalised - it’s currently expected to happen some time next year.
Featured Image Credit: Activision, Martin Katler via UnsplashTopics: Call Of Duty, PlayStation, Xbox, Sony, Microsoft, Activision
