Faced with Sony’s concerns about the fate of the Call of Duty license on Playstation, Microsoft is trying to be reassuring. On the Same Brain YouTube channel, Xbox boss Phil Spencer promised that the American giant will continue to release COD games on Sony’s consoles as long as “there is a Playstation to ship these games to.“.
As you probably know, since the historic acquisition of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft for a record amount of 60 billion euros, the question of the future of many flagship licenses of the American publisher has arisen. What will happen to Call of Duty or Diablo games, for example? Will they continue to be released on Playstation, or will Microsoft decide to make them Xbox exclusives?
This point is precisely at the center of the concerns of the British competition and market authorities (CMA), which have been examining the takeover operation for several weeks. In the eyes of the CMA, the Call of Duty license is capable “to make a material difference in the success of rival gaming platforms”. In other words, grabbing exclusivity for COD games would put Microsoft in a strong position and hurt other manufacturers, Sony in the lead.
Also to read : Sony fears that players will abandon the PS5 if Call of Duty becomes an Xbox and PC exclusive
Call of Duty will stay on Playstation, Phil Spencer promises
Despite the fears expressed by the competition regulatory authorities and by the Japanese firm, Microsoft has always been reassuring about the fate of Call of Duty. Even if Call of Duty games are destined to land on the Xbox Game Pass, the titles of the license will continue to be released on Playstation… At least for a few more years after the expiration of the existing agreement between Sony and Activision-Blizzard.
Suffice to say that this precision did not really reassure Sony. Gold, Phil Spencer wanted to clarify things during an interview on the Same Brain YouTube channel :“We are not removing Call of Duty from Playstation… That is not our intention. Our intension is not to do that and as long as there is a Playstation to ship the game to, our intention is to continue to ship Call of Duty to Playstation – similar to what we have done with Minecraft since we got there. owners”.
He pursues : “We expanded the places people can play Minecraft, we didn’t shrink the places. And it’s been good, it’s been good for the Minecraft community – in my opinion – and we want to do the same when we think about where Call of Duty can go over the years.” Let us therefore recall that this final promise by Spencer comes as the CMA must give its final decision on the takeover by spring 2023.
Source : Eurogamer
