Microsoft commits to releasing Call of Duty on PlayStation following Activision acquisition

After a few weeks of mulling over the decision of just what they’ll be doing with Activision, Microsoft has announced Call of Duty will continue on PlayStation, so long as the deal goes through.

After the announcement of Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard many PlayStation players have been concerned about what this means for the future of core gaming franchises, such as Call of Duty, on their platform, however, the cause for concern may be over for good.

At first, messaging was somewhat mixed, with Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming’s CEO, only eventually stating that the company’s intent was to “honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard.” and that the company had a “desire” to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.

That message has since been clarified and confirmed by Microsoft themselves, as in a new official blog post, the soon to be new owners of Activision Blizzard stated that “Microsoft will continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard titles available on PlayStation through the term of any existing agreement with Activision.”

“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,” Microsoft continued before expressing interest in bringing Activision Blizzard games to “Nintendo’s successful platform.” 

“We believe this is the right thing for the industry, for gamers and for our business.”

As many have suspected already, the most likely reason for this announcement is to appease lawmakers and regulators who are currently scrutinizing Microsoft’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. 

While commitments like these won’t guarantee the deal isn’t seen as a monopolizing move by Microsoft, it will undoubtedly help proceedings as clearly they’re not trying to horde every IP and exclusive for themselves… Just most of them. 

While the future of many forgotten Activision IPs may remain in the hands of Microsoft and Xbox exclusivity, it makes sense that the company would keep the Call of Duty franchise multiplatform throughout this deal, since it makes a simply obscene amount of money on Sony’s PlayStation platform. Appeasing regulators and the FTC is just an added bonus in the grand schemes of money-making.