Microsoft said the Call of Duty franchise and other popular Activision Blizzard games across platforms will remain available on PlayStation following its $68.7 billion acquisition.
“To be clear, the company will continue to make Call of Duty and other popular Activision Blizzard games available on PlayStation during the term of any existing agreement with Activision,” Microsoft says.
She added, “We committed to Sony that we will also make it available on the PlayStation following the current agreement and in the future so that fans of the game can enjoy the games they love.”
This means that in addition to Call All Duty, other Activision Blizzard titles, such as Diablo and Overwatch, should also remain available as cross-platform games. Last month, Bloomberg reported that Microsoft pledged to bring upcoming Call of Duty games to PlayStation “for at least two years” before announcing the acquisition.
Those two years later, it’s up to Microsoft to decide whether it wants to continue releasing Call of Duty (and potentially other Activision Blizzard cross-platform games) on PlayStation.
Microsoft said it expects to close the deal in the next six to eighteen months, which means we may not hear a definitive answer on the game’s exclusivity for some time.
While Microsoft certainly makes it sound like it wants to keep Activision Blizzard titles across platforms, current precedent suggests otherwise.
After Microsoft acquired Bethesda last year, it has promised to keep existing contractual agreements with PlayStation, such as Deathloop, but is still releasing Bethesda, Redfall and Starfield titles as Xbox and PC exclusives.
In its announcement, Microsoft also said that it plans to “take similar steps to support the successful Nintendo platform.” The announcement comes as Microsoft plans to introduce Open App Store principles, which Microsoft says will boost competition in app stores as regulators approach anti-competitive behavior.
However, there is one notable exception to the Open App Store plans, and that is the Xbox Store. According to Microsoft, “game consoles are sold specifically, to gamers to create a robust and viable ecosystem for game developers.
The costs are subsequently recovered through revenue generated in the dedicated console store.” The principles set forth will not apply “immediately and in bulk” to Xbox, but the company noted “bridging the gap” between reality and its stated principles without giving a clear timeline.