For the last time: Call of Dutyisn’t leaving PlayStation.
At least,assam video call recording sex that’s the latest promise from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer. Appearing on The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Spencer took time to reiterate and emphasize, once and for all, that the blockbuster first-person shooter franchise will notbecome exclusive to Xbox at any point in the foreseeable future. And that's even ifMicrosoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Call of Dutypublisher Activison Blizzardgoes through without trouble from international regulators.
"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2is doing great on PlayStation and on Xbox — so will the next game, and the next, and the next. Native on the platform, not having to subscribe to Game Pass. Sony does not have to take Game Pass on their platform to make that happen. There’s nothing hidden. We want to continue to ship Call of Dutyon PlayStation without any kind of weird, 'Aha! I figured out the gotcha.'"
There have been concerns since Microsoft announced the titanic Activision merger in January that Call of Duty(the latest entry of which, Modern Warfare 2, is currently on topof the PlayStation Sales charts) would eventually migrate to the Xbox Exclusionary Zone. There was a minor war of wordsbetween Xbox and PlayStation back in the summer, as Sony felt Microsoft had not adequately committed to bringing CODto its consoles beyond the next few years.
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On top of that, some regulatory bodies in countries where Microsoft does business have called the competitive ethics of the deal into question. The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority, for example, has argued that Microsoft absorbing Call of Dutycould have adverse and unfair effects on Sony’s gaming business.
However, according to Spencer, that won’t be a concern. He compared CODto Minecraft, another Microsoft-owned property that nonetheless is available everywhereand has been for years.
SEE ALSO: 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II' continues the franchise's long history of courting controversy“Our model is we want to be where players are, especially with franchises the size of Minecraftand Call of Duty,” Spencer told The Verge. “I think our Minecrafthistory is coming up on eight, nine years and it shows in practice how we will support our customers. That’s what I want to do with Call of Duty.”
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It’s a bit unusual for someone of Spencer’s stature to speak so plainly and clearly about big business deals like this, but with regulators breathing down Microsoft’s neck, it makes sense. When you spend nearly $70 billion on something, you want to make sure you can get the most out of it. It’s not unreasonable to fear that Microsoft would eventually wall off Call of Dutybecause of a games industry precedent, but it wouldn’t make much business sense. The franchise is huge on PlayStation.
So, there you have it. Unless something changes, Call of Dutyisn’t going anywhere.
Topics PlayStation Xbox