Call of Duty Won’t Be Xbox Exclusive, Says Phil Spencer

Phil Spencer spoke out today to qualm fears that Call of Duty would be Xbox Exclusive following Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

In a tweet today, the Head of Xbox put to rest the fears that this year’s Call of Duty wouldn’t release on PlayStation, instead only releasing on Xbox and maybe PC.

“Had good calls this week with leaders at Sony”, Spencer said. “I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship“.

This follows what could only have been pressure from fans, since it seems like SIE representatives themselves didn’t know if Microsoft would continue to honor prior commitments to release the games on PlayStation.

“We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform”, an SIE representative told the Wall Street Journal.

Fears of Xbox exclusivity follow all of Microsoft’s acquisitions, after the company purchased Bethesda and word got around that the next Elder Scrolls title would no longer be coming to the PlayStation consoles.

Call of Duty has always enjoyed some level of preferential treatment on PlayStation, with SIE’s consoles often getting exclusive betas and other bonuses for playing there.

Why Call of Duty May Not Be Xbox Exclusive

While maybe 10 years ago, buying up your competition and making them 100% exclusive would have made sense, the existence of Xbox Game Pass changes that up.

Some people, like IGN’s John Davison, believe that the exclusivity doesn’t matter- as long as they can get Call of Duty on GamePass, people will want to pay for it there rather than buy the game full price.

” If you’re playing Call of Duty on a PC or a smart TV or a PlayStation, it ultimately doesn’t matter to Microsoft as long as you’re paying it monthly for the privilege, as 25 million of us already are”, he says.