Xbox reportedly won’t make every Activision Blizzard game exclusive following acquisition

In an interview with Bloomberg, the freshly ordained CEO of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, revealed that Xbox won’t be making every Activision Blizzard title an exclusive, no matter how tempting that might be. 

“I’ll just say to players out there who are playing Activision Blizzard games on Sony’s platform: It’s not our intent to pull communities away from that platform and we remained committed to that,” Phil Spencer stated emphatically following Microsoft’s monumental acquisition of Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion.

This statement was echoed in the announcement for the acquisition, with Spencer writing that “Activision Blizzard games are enjoyed on a variety of platforms and we plan to continue to support those communities moving forward,” so it’s possible Microsoft really isn’t planning to make Activision Blizzard’s blockbuster franchises exclusive. 

The confirmation from Spencer is definitely welcome, however, it’s hardly the most surprising news, as it wouldn’t make much financial sense to make Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox thanks to how phenomenally massive the franchise is. 

There’s no question that making Call of Duty exclusive, or putting it on Xbox Game Pass for that matter, will significantly increase demand for Xbox Series X|S consoles, however, since Xbox is also selling their next-gen consoles as fast as they can make them, it wouldn’t really result in all too many extra sales. 

While Call of Duty and Overwatch will likely be sticking around on PlayStation consoles, Bloomberg reports that, according to a “person familiar with the company’s thinking,” future exclusivity decisions will likely be made on a title-by-title basis.