Microsoft has committed to keeping games like Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms.
Speaking in a blog post, Microsoft president and vice chairman Brad Smith said the company will continue to make popular Activision Blizzard titles available on Sony systems for the foreseeable future.
Smith said that some commentators had asked the company whether it would continue to make Activision Blizzard games such as Call of Duty available on competing platforms, as many were concerned that Microsoft could make the games an Xbox exclusive, thus “undermining opportunities for Sony PlayStation users .”
“To be clear, Microsoft will continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles available on PlayStation through the terms of any existing agreement with Activision,” said Smith. “And we have committed to Sony that we will also make them available on PlayStation beyond the existing agreement and into the future so that Sony fans can continue to enjoy the games they love.
“We are also interested in taking similar steps to support Nintendo’s successful platform. We believe this is the right thing for the industry, for gamers, and for our business.”
Smith’s comments line up with those made by Phil Spencer, now CEO of Microsoft Gaming, who said when the Activision Blizzard acquisition deal was announced that the company had no plans to “pull communities away” from PlayStation. He also said that Microsoft planned to continue to “support those communities moving forward.”
When the deal to purchase Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion was announced, a person familiar with the goings-on told Bloomberg that Microsoft plans to “keep making some of Activision’s games available for PlayStation consoles,” but there might be some content exclusive to Xbox. Microsoft has yet to state whether this will eventually be the case, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
The deal to acquire Activision Blizzard is expected to be finalized during Microsoft’s 2023 fiscal year which starts in July.
