Editor’s Note: A lawsuit has been filed against Activision Blizzard by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, which alleges the company has engaged in abuse, discrimination, and retaliation against its female employees. Activision Blizzard has denied the allegations. The full details of the Activision Blizzard lawsuit (content warning: rape, suicide, abuse, harassment) are being updated as new information becomes available.
After the surprise announcement of Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has come out to confirm that one of the company’s biggest franchises, Call of Duty, will never be an Xbox exclusive. Many speculated that this might be the case following the acquisition, a major way for Microsoft to add to its Xbox ecosystem, but it seems that Microsoft will keep Call of Duty multi-platform after all.
Just a few short weeks ago, Microsoft announced the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, bringing the troubled studio and its stable of high-profile franchises like Call of Duty, Starcraft, and Warcraft under Microsoft’s umbrella and, by extension, likely further integrating those series into the Xbox platform. It was a huge purchase, at $68.7 billion, and immediately gamers everywhere started asking what this meant for those companies and for the industry as a whole. Microsoft has been compared to Disney in the way it’s acquiring one studio after another, and some worry that a monopoly may be forming (though it’s worth noting that Sony and Tencent still remain bigger companies in the gaming industry). On a similar note, with Call of Duty having been a successful multiplatform title up to this point, the question remained of what would become of it now. Luckily, Microsoft has now answered that question.
In a blog post on the Microsoft site (via Nibel on Twitter), President and Vice Chair of the company Brad Smith confirmed that Call of Duty will never be an Xbox exclusive. Smith said that Microsoft would honor any existing agreement Activision had with Sony in regards to Call of Duty, and that Microsoft would continue to offer Call of Duty games on Sony platforms—and on Nintendo platforms too—past the expiration of those agreements, into the future. So, for gamers who want to play Call of Duty on their Playstation—or even on the Switch, perhaps—Microsoft seems to be willing to allow that. That may change in the future, given how successful and lucrative Call of Duty is, but for now, at least, things remain as they are.
Further details are scarce, but the terms of Activision’s existing deal with Sony have Call of Duty continuing to release on Playstation for the next three years. With this confirmation from Smith, it seems that a new agreement may be in the works, or at least a standing policy of keeping the series multiplatform for the foreseeable future. Microsoft technically doesn’t own Activision Blizzard yet; the deal is expected to close by summer of 2023. With Call of Duty currently on a yearly release schedule, there could be one or two upcoming Call of Duty titles out before the acquisition officially takes place. So it may be some time yet before Microsoft can make any big changes to any of the Activision Blizzard franchises.
That said, it seems that what Microsoft can do, it is doing. Many have been critical of the company’s decision to keep current CEO Bobby Kotick on until the acquisition is complete, given the allegations against him. Perhaps once Microsoft has full control, it will shake things up in a big way. Call of Duty fans, and gamers everywhere, will just have to wait and see.
Source: Microsoft
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