Xbox boss Phil Spencer has reiterated that it will keep releasing the Call of Duty franchise on PlayStation, despite its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Microsoft’s buyout of the publisher was met with some pushback from PlayStation, claiming that the deal will negatively impact the gaming industry. However, Spencer says it will keep Call of Duty on PlayStation for as long as the platform is around.
Speaking on a recent Same Brain podcast (reported by Tom Warren), Spencer said Xbox has no intention of denying PlayStation users the opportunity to continue playing future Call of Duty releases. He compared how Xbox will handle the first-person shooter franchise to Minecraft, which is currently owned by Xbox but still exists and thrives on multiple platforms including PlayStation and Nintendo Switch, among others.
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Spencer’s full response to keeping Call of Duty on PlayStation reads:
“We’re not taking Call of Duty from PlayStation. Our intent is not to do that and long as there is a PlayStation out there to ship to, our intent is that we continue to ship Call of Duty on PlayStation. Similar to what we’ve done with Minecraft, we’ve expanded the places that people can play Minecraft [and] we haven’t reduced the places.”
Of course, Xbox’s exclusivity of Call of Duty could mean that Microsoft’s platform will receive some exclusive bonuses such as early access or Xbox-specific content, but the games will still be playable on PlayStation. This will only happen if the deal goes through in the first place, which is still being mulled over by UK regulators.
Activision Blizzard released Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and PC last Friday, serving as a direct sequel to 2019’s Modern Warfare reboot.
Source: Tom Warren