In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock, Microsoft has come to an agreement to purchase the entirety of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. One of the first questions asked by PlayStation gamers, as with the Bethesda purchase, was if Call of Duty would still be available on PlayStation. Would the mainline titles become exclusives for Microsoft and Game Pass? Would Warzone be treated as a “legacy” community as is Fallout 76 and Elder Scrolls Online? Or would it be treated the same as Minecraft, which is available everywhere?
Late in the week, Phil Spencer made a statement concerning this question, although the answer may not be as clear as fans were hoping for, most likely for legal reasons. He did state that Xbox would “honor all existing agreements” Activision Blizzard currently holds with Sony, and keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.
Does this sound familiar? Phil Spencer had a similar statement when Microsoft acquired Bethesda, stating:
“We have games that exist on other platforms and we’re going to go support those games on the platforms that they are on. There are communities of players, we love those players, and we’re going to invest in them.”
Phil Spencer Upon Acquisition of Bethesda
As we know now, all future Bethesda games aside from expansions for Fallout 76 and Elder Scrolls Online will remain exclusive to the Xbox ecosystem starting with Starfield. Call of Duty Warzone fits the mold of these games, adding new content and map changes with every release. If they follow the same path as they did with Bethesda’s titles, Call of Duty‘s mainline entries will eventually become exclusive.
Maybe I’ll be wrong, who knows. Call of Duty is the highest selling game every year, even when the titles are deemed mediocre at best. The most recent release, Call of Duty Vanguard, is the lowest rated title since Call of Duty Ghosts, and still managed to be the best selling game across all Xbox and PlayStation platforms. Microsoft can look at it the way they see Minecraft, as the game transcends the platforms that its played on.
What do you think will happen to Call of Duty? Do you think the mainline titles will stay multiplatform? Let us know in our Discord or Facebook group!
Source: Twitter
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