In a podcast, the head of Microsoft”s gaming division spoke out about the future of PlayStation and Call of Duty – and finally gives concrete info.
After the purchase of Activision Blizzard by the software giant Microsoft for around 70 billion dollars, uncertainty spread, especially among PlayStation and Call of Duty players. Now Phil Spencer, head of Microsoft”s gaming division, has spoken out clearly for the first time about what the future of PlayStation and Call of Duty will look like.
Insecurity among PlayStation users
By buying Activision Blizzard, Microsoft has also taken over all trademark rights to their games. In addition to well-known names such as Warcraft, Diablo or Civilization, Microsoft is also taking control of the Call of Duty franchise, which is particularly popular on the PlayStation.
As is well known, PlayStation parent Sony and Microsoft are not the best of friends and have been in competition with each other for decades due to the battle between Xbox and PlayStation.
When Microsoft”s purchase of Activision Blizzard was announced in mid-January 2022, nervousness and uncertainty understandably spread among PlayStation users because of it. Will Microsoft only publish Call of Duty exclusively on the Xbox and for the PC in the future? Sony was also very worried, as a large proportion of their users play Call of Duty and could switch to Microsoft”s rival product if it is not released on PlayStation.
The importance of the Call of Duty franchise was recently demonstrated again after Modern Warfare 2 had a record start and flushed over 800 million dollars into the coffers of Activision and Microsoft respectively after only a few days.
Clear announcement on CoD
During the “Same Brain” podcast on YouTube, Microsoft”s gaming boss Phil Spencer made his first public statement about the future of PlayStation and Call of Duty.
When asked by a moderator what the purchase of Activision Blizzard would mean for the future of games on Xbox and PlayStation, Spencer made the following statement:
We”re not taking Call of Duty away from PlayStation. I know that”s not exactly what you asked, but I just want to state the obvious. […] As long as there”s going to be a PlayStation, we”re going to be releasing Call of Duty for it.
Spencer continued:
We expanded the ways to play Minecraft, not reduced them. And that”s been good, it”s been good for the Minecraft community – in my opinion – and we want to do the same thing when we think about where we want Call of Duty to go over the years.
The announcement from Microsoft”s gaming chief could hardly be clearer. PlayStation users and fans of the Call of Duty series are likely to wipe the beads of sweat from their foreheads after this statement.
After Spencer”s statement, Sony can also look into the future a little more calmly and no longer has to fear that the lack of Call of Duty on the PlayStation will cause a large proportion of their players to switch to Microsoft”s Xbox.
