Xbox Boss: We’ll Keep Bringing Call of Duty to PlayStations As Long As There Are

Microsoft plans to continue releasing Call of Duty games on Sony platforms after its proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer said. The company plans to bring Call of Duty titles to the PlayStation “as long as there’s a PlayStation to deliver to.”

“We’re not taking Call of Duty off the PlayStation. That’s not our intention,” Spencer confirms in an interview with YouTube channel Same Brain. “As long as there’s a PlayStation to deliver to, our intention is to continue shipping Call of Duty on the PlayStation.” The Xbox CEO makes a comparison with Minecraft, which Microsoft has owned since 2014. “We’ve expanded, not narrowed, the places where people can play Minecraft.”

The future of Call of Duty on the PlayStation platform has been under discussion for some time, ever since Microsoft announced it plans to acquire publisher Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. Critics of the acquisition, including PlayStation maker Sony, argue that it would be unfair for PlayStation players for Call of Duty to become a first-party title for Xbox. Market regulators such as the British CMA are currently examining this issue.

Microsoft has said in the past that it would continue to release Call of Duty for PlayStation consoles for the foreseeable future. It promised earlier that the shooter franchise would remain on the PlayStation for ‘at least several years’, including after Sony’s existing agreement with Activision. However, Sony does not think that goes far enough. The PlayStation parent company has not yet commented on Spencer’s new statements.

The Activision acquisition by Microsoft is currently under review by several market watchdogs worldwide. Spencer says in his interview with Same Brain that he is “very confident” that the takeover will be approved. If all goes according to plan, Microsoft expects the acquisition to close in June 2023.