Xbox's Phil Spencer Confirms Plans To Keep Call Of Duty On PlayStation

Ooof this is going to go down a treat.

Due to his earlier comment about sony and nintendo fighting off amazon, apple and Google if wager call of duty was a bargaining chip to not partner with any of those

Also Warzone would fall under the current existing agreements category just like fallout 76 and elder scrolls online did when he said the same, but then he mentioned keeping call of duty on playstation seperate which means the main series

I still see CoD becoming exclusive once contracts expire, they can intend to do this and have a desire to do that etc but doesn't mean it'll actually happen as it is currently

A desire to keep Warzone on PS - sure

A desire to release CoD Modern Advanced Infinite Black Ops Warfare 33 on PS - not so much

@Royalblues buy a playstation then, just like playstation players have to buy an xbox for starfield etc I had to wait a year to play tomb raider when it came to xbox first

That’s good news

Good news all round then. Xbox gamers, get it on Gamepass. Playstation, pay €70 like normal. Happy days.

@Royalblues only Sony exclusive from Capcom is Street Fighter 5 so far. And that is on PC too.

Yeah tell Sony to stop making deals with SE

It’s Nintendo you need to tell to stop making deals with Capcom especially and Square Enix too

@Royalblues monster hunter, tomb raider and resident evil would definitely draw in 10 million sales each

I'm still wishing for FF7 Remake on Xbox.

“Our desire” to me means it could either way and isn’t a full admit of anything. They flat out said Minecraft was staying multi.

I personally think they want something in return like a better cut of the profits or something else. I’ve seen some posts that it’s to help make sure the merger goes through. Again, I think it’s money.

He didn’t really “confirm” COD would keep coming to PlayStation. He just said there’s a “desire”. Also, this doesn’t necessarily mean that all COD games going forward will be on PS. It could just mean Warzone. Even IGN said as much after this news came out.

Think this site was a little too quick to take this on face value.

From the more sensible take on IGN:
“ This could be read as referring to Call of Duty Warzone and ongoing support for existing Call of Duty games. "Keep Call of Duty on PlayStation" does not mean the same thing as "Publish new Call of Duty games on PlayStation."

Polygon and other sites are saying the same thing.

Damn! This man is truly a good hearted gamer. I know this will likely make it easier passing the acquisition but i never thought it would be rejected without this. He's complimenting Nintendo and Sony as true gaming companies and working to keep Sony competitive. Likely so they don't get gobbled up but still.

Almost as crazy an announcement as the acquisition itself.

@VOODOO85 I can't see them making Call of Duty exclusive. The shear number of sales/mtx on the PS install base far outweighs console sales/GP subs gained by making it exclusive. Microsoft knows this

Bethesda games on the other hand are nowhere near as popular (Although so much better imo) so the console sales and subs gained can make up for the loss of software sales from PS users.

@SacredPYRO the way I see it is all single player games are xbox exclusives, and multiplayer games will be kept multi platform

This seems like a sensible way to proceed. Is CoD exclusivity really the only potential part of this deal to draw new players to Xbox? It seems like Xbox is going to have an even better year than 2021. Keeping CoD multiplatform would show a lot of confidence on Microsoft's part — and keep the golden goose a-laying.

Comments like this from Phil will also help the acquisition deal pass with regulators. Let's not underestimate the potential for friction over the appearance of monopolization. Activision-Blizzard was the biggest of the big fish, and this deal changes the gaming landscape more than any deal I can remember in the past.

Very carefully worded Phil.. 👌👌

@UltimateOtaku91 I see it the same way. SP exclusives are the best way to get more console sales imo but anything with a live service/mtx element is huge lost revenue if not multiplatform.

I am an Xbox gamer mostly but I do hope Phil lets PS have Crash and Spyro as well. It would seem harsh and weird to me to make them Xbox exclusive in the future. The term "legacy titles" was used in the Bethesda acquisition but I didn't feel like any of those IPs had a PS legacy unlike those.

Maybe it wouldn't be smart to take off Call of Duty from Playstation. It could devalue the franchise and leave the ground open for a competitor, like Battlefield to become the top selling game in the market. Keeping it on PS5, but with exclusive perks on Xbox would be a safer way to preserve CoD's relevance while making the Xbox more desirable. Hell, simply not having to shell 70 bucks on it is reason enough to go for Xbox.

Wonder if the talks involve some $ going MS' way from Sony? I can see both sides of the argument, keep CoD multiplat or make it exclusive, but to me, the latter would be the way to go unless MS really doesn't care about console sales anymore. People can say what they want about the series, future Call of Duty games being exclusive to Xbox would put the Series line in more demand than it already is.

@Royalblues hmm

Yep, I agree with the comments above, very carefully worded. I think he's trying to make sure everything goes smoothly. They did the same with Zenimax and although we don't have Deathloop yet because of that, Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI will be on Xbox only. I expect the same with Call of Duty until late 2023 when it will be Xbox only except, perhaps, Warzone (free-to-play battle royale).

Of course Call of Duty will remain on Playstation - there is Warzone and the 'new' Multiplayer only CoD game that MS will support indefinitely on ALL platforms because their ONLINE CoD community is VERY IMPORTANT to them.

Any Game Published under Activision and ANY contractual games WILL be on PS and Supported on PS. Everything Made by and Published by Xbox will be EXCLUSIVE!!!!

No more CoD Single Player or 'Spin-off' games, NO more games with Crash, Spyro etc ALL NEW Xbox Games as those IP's, those Studios are no longer 'Activision/Blizzard' games and NO-ONE can stop MS from releasing them exclusively and still honouring EVERYTHING they have said and done so far with EVERY studio....

This will be no different...

They want NEW games from Treyarch, Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer, High Moon etc for Game Pass, they want ALL those old games for Game Pass etc.

If Treyarch wants to make a new 'Zombies' game, free from the creative block CoD left them with, they will be encouraged to do so as it would be 'perfect' for Game Pass, If High Moon want to revisit Darkwatch with much better hardware and support, they will, If Infinity Ward want to create a 'new' IP to break away from CoD, they can, if Sledgehammer want to try a 3rd Person CoD spin off, they can, if beenox wants to make a smash bros/kart racer with Characters from Crash, Spyro, Banjo, Conker, Halo, Doom, Wolfenstein, Perfect Dark, CoD, Quake, Hexen, Fable, Skyrim, Gears, Psychonauts etc etc they can - all on platforms that support Game Pass.

If people think they will make 'new' single player based content for Playstation, they are mistaken. Online Communities will be supported EVERYWHERE. There is no way MS would release a 'new' CoD MP on Xbox only platforms and 'split' the fan base.

We may never see a 'CoD' Single Player FPS campaign again - at least not until there are no contractual or legal reason to keep it Exclusive. If they have an 'online' game that 'CoD' brand will benefit communities of gamers, forget coming to PS.

We're early in the generation and don't forget that Xbox 360 was more popular than PS3. The casual crowd will go to Series X/S easily if Duty Calls. Call of Duty players don't need to play on PS5. In other words, Microsoft don't need PS5 and the more players the better for Game Pass and Series X/S.

There will be no definitive statements until this deal closes late 2022 or early 2023. This statement is just to make sure PS fanboys keep buying COD until it goes exclusive.

@Banjo-
Think you spot on there, else some of the purchase doesn’t make sense.
To grow game pass with more subscriptions and sell more consoles which then will sell more game pass you have to have top games, especially once the initial gamers like us have purchased.
Games sell, be it game pass or games consoles and that is that really. Without the games the general public want to play then you just sell to hardcore gamers or mid gamers and will not generate big massive sales to general public or the COD and FIFA crowd.

I feel there is plenty of room in that quote for interpretation still.

"Had good calls this week with leaders at Sony. I confirmed our intent to honor all existing agreements upon acquisition of Activision Blizzard and our desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation. "

Keeping Call of Duty on Playstation can simply mean keeping some Call of Duty games on PlayStation. Games like Warzone.

Also "our desire" can easily come with a big footnote: "but we want Game Pass on PlayStation." Likely not full Game Pass, but like EA Play (EA Play has fewer games on PS than it does on XBox inherently due to BC, and then there are the PC exclusive games.)

Another expectation I have:
Call of Duty yearly game sales are on a decline. Warzone does not need yearly boxed games to continue interest, and its possible that Microsoft will simply drastically slow down the production of Call of Duty games to only every other year or, who knows, maybe every third year. Dedicate those resources to all those abandoned IPs instead, games that will be entirely XBox/PC exclusive.

Let's not kid ourselves, if Sony bought Activision-Blizzard, they would keep everything 100% PS exclusive and pundits wouldn't be mad about it. People would laud them and act like it was such an amazing move.

In any case, I doubt this means future mainline games in the series will come to PS but you never know. I actually believe MS would be smarter to make it exclusive because of who buys the games. It isn't PS diehards, it's casuals who buy consoles for Madden and sports games. In other words, exclusive COD really wouldn't affect as many ppl as Sony fanboys would have you believe. It would only mean fewer PS consoles sold, and that bugs them to death.

“Confirmed our desire.” Bet he asked for something big in return and Sony said maybe.

@IronMan30 Totally. Call of Duty players than are still playing on last-gen consoles won't get a PS5 but a Series X/S after yesterday's news.

I'm so tired of seeing Microsoft kiss Sony ass! If Sony would've brought Activision do you think they would do this? HELL NO! why everytime Microsoft buys someone they're required to share but when Sony do it its always praise as if Sony is a God or something? I'm really tired of the double standards! When will FF7 come to Xbox? What about the 2 year timed exclusive deal Sony has with Forspoken? Hell it was even reported Sony was trying to lockdown Starfield before the Bethesda acquisition. Please stop kissing Sony ass! I know Microsoft wants gamepass on everything but please stop kissing Sony's ass!!!!!!

But for how long?

I just want a new Tony Hawk and for Toys for Bob to bring back a classic mascot ip.

So what he is saying is all previously released CoD games on PS won't be pulled?

@Ashadelo basically yes and that they'll support the 'last' CoD and its MP indefinitely - maybe go free to play to add seasons, update eras etc like Warzone so the ONLINE Community is 'never' left out because they chose the 'wrong' platform.

I can see Raven given 'CoD Online' permanently to run, update and maintain, remaster old maps, make 'new' maps - basically build and maintain the 'best' Call of Duty Multi-player experiences across ALL platforms with ALL platforms getting exactly the same content at the same time. Every year, they could update the entire 'era' in line with Warzone to keep things fresh, build the MP around the Community and history of CoD. They could have a 'retro' play list where you 'rotate' between a map/loadout from any eras of CoD rotate modes, add new modes etc to keep things from getting stale and ensure each mode has great 'numbers' to find matches easily.

Treyarch, Infinity War, Sledgehammer, High Moon, Beenox etc will be free to make games they want in ANY of MS's growing portfolio of IP's - inc now CoD or create new IP's to add to that Portfolio. All those will be on Game Pass

None of them, or anyone else will make a 'new' CoD Multi-player game that releases exclusively on Game Pass and 'split' the users.. Ideally, MS will want you playing this 'curated' MP online Hub of CoD - Having all those old maps and load oats (inc perks/kilstreaks etc) all in one package (MCC like) will also bring all those players still playing old CoDs, stop those 'selling' many more copies if at all - with everyone playing in the new CoD MP Hub. a perk of paying for 'battle' pass every season could be the option to have private matches on ANY map with just friends, bots to practice against etc, with the option to create your 'own' modes. Battlepass for 'ranked' playlists and absolutely 'no skill based matchmaking' ANYWHERE in the F2P main MP experience

Intent and desire are 2 completely diff things. This was very carefully worded. I don’t think it’s as cut and dry as yes all new cod games are coming to the same platforms they do now. Intent is definitive but desire is more well we want to but only if…

What was the point then? Should've spent that money elsewhere then

@BAMozzy

good points, well see what happens.

But, Microsoft didn't spend 69 Billion to keep CoD the way it has always been. I do see future exclusive CoD on Xbox and GamePass

That’s not how I read his tweet. Microsoft will honor all previous commitments like they did with Bethesda and afterwards I’m willing to bet anything those games will be exclusive on Xbox and PC. Fallout 76 and ESO is on PlayStation but what about the newest two games announced? Exclusive to Xbox and PC. This precedents to this stuff, I don’t understand why so many people are in denial. You think Microsoft paid $70 billion to to let Activision run business as usual?

@Malmall20 Forspoken, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Deahtloop, Ghostwire Tokyo, Call of Duty goodies, Starfield attempt... Sony moneyhatting everyone and now they call Phil to ask what will happen with Activision games?! This is surreal.

@Ashadelo I agree, It just won't be an Exclusive mainline CoD Multiplayer game that splits the online community between the 'old' CoD on PS and newer CoD on Game Pass.

That doesn't mean that we won't see Exclusive 'CoD' related new content on Game Pass only. Maybe one of their studio's has an idea to make a co-op military shooter that is 'perfect' for the CoD name, maybe another may want to try their hand at a Military based WW2/MW era RTS that would benefit from association to CoD - maybe they want to make an arcade flying 'fighter' game - CoD:Battle of Britain exclusive to Game Pass, a Military stealth based game 'CoD:SAS' exclusive to Game Pass.

Games made under Activision will 'remain' multi-platform but Activision no longer 'exists' after this. Those studio's are 'Xbox' Studio's, no longer Avtivision Publishing, its Xbox Publishing, CoD, Spyro, Crash etc are no longer Activision IP's, they are Xbox IP's....

Phil is a master at corporate speak. He expressed their "desire" to keep it on Playstation, but their desire and doing what's "best for business" are rarely the same.

I think it would be smart to keep CoD on Playstation indefinitely, just to extend a small olive branch, but hey it's not my 70 billion being spent.

Any 'new' Infinity Ward, Treyarch, Sledgehammer, High Moon etc game is made by an Xbox Studio (not an Activision/Blizzard studio), any 'new' CoD, Doom, Elder Scrolls, Diablo, Outer Worlds, Hellblade, Psychonauts, Spyro, Crash is an Xbox owned IP and will be published by Xbox and available day 1 on Game Pass.

They do NOT need to sell ANY of these because the 'loss of revenue' will be too high, its not about 'sales' its about subscriber numbers, player engagement and subscriber retention. They may lose 10m sales on PS but could gain 'millions' on cloud platforms as well as all those PC/Xbox gamers that will play with no 'cost' to be a barrier to playing

@blockfight exactly!! It's a win-win, except for console warriorz who wanted Microsoft to act like spiteful children instead of a business.

I can imagine a world where Microsoft flexes that CoD/overwatch 2 muscle to get something like GoW or something else to come to the Xbox.

@BAMozzy

I really hope Activision fades away and the teams are freed up to do whatever they want.

Also, would be awesome if Blizzard becomes independent from any of the former Activision management teams. So that the World of Warcraft, Diablo, Starcraft, Warcraft and Overwatch all get their own dedicated teams with Phil and others overseeing. That would be amazing

just stop with the yearly installments its gotten old and is just beating a dead horse at this point give the game more time instead of copy paste and change setting and year.

@FraserG "There's your answer." Hardly. He didn't clarify anyting but the franchise existing in some form on PlayStation. Which could mean just Warzone. He didn't commit by saying all annual upcoming releases will be on the PlayStation in the future. He didn't really commit anything.

if your not going to make call of duty exclusive i cant see what the point of spending 70 billion on Activision was.

This really doesn't mean anything, it just means they will honor current deals. This doesn't say anything about what they will do after those deals expire, which will be very soon for Sony.

I have problems getting it on battlenet. Has that something to do with this?

Microsoft is not out to kill or hurt Sony, Activision/Blizzard board were looking for a exit strategy, they could have been bought by another party, even after the offer from Microsoft they were open for other parties to top the offer, parties like Tencent/Amazon magnitude. Better Microsoft than those I think, if the deal goes through (which I expect it will) it still gonna take more than a year till the ink is dry.

Exactly what I thought. It makes sense. He did say PlayStation, as in… full price via shop of eshop. It WILL be GamePass exclusive. In that way Sony Gamepass contender can’t have the games. This is what the Console wars mean now. Service Wars

I like this kind of talk. Talking about "desire"... Personnaly, I'm reading this as "now we've got leverage".

So hopefully, Sony will have to do something in return, like letting Square put some FFVII on Xbox, or something like that.

"our desire to keep call of duty on playstation" provided Sony agree to having Game Pass on PS hardware.

Cod will be exclusive. Warzone will stay, new entries not. Desire doesnt prove anything. Baity news.

@UltimateOtaku91 the way I see it maintaining warzone is keeping call of duty there. He was obviously very careful with the wording

'Existing agreements' Phil's Quote. That's it for playstation. Beyond this year it will be Xbox and PC only.

"There's your answer, folks!"

Yeah, except it doesn't answer the question, at all. Read it again. In classic Phil Spencer fashion, it points to one thing but is technically worded to leave an escape clause. He "desires" to have CoD on Playstation.

Okay Phil. Public Relations evil genius right here. Would have a promising career in politics.

There will be an 'online' CoD experience on PS - whether they decide to 'keep' the last Activision CoD MP going or release a new CoD MP for the long term.

That MP won't get a 'yearly' replacement, splitting the users between new and old, same as they won't release a 'CoD MP' only on Xbox splitting the 'old' users from the 'New'. They will keep that 'online' MP experience going 'indefinitely' for the entire online 'CoD' community to 'enjoy' on whatever platform they play on!!

Therefore, it makes sense for CoD to release a MP only package or make the MP Free to Play on ANY platform - no barrier to entry, no splitting the users, all maps, modes, etc available to 'everyone' regardless of system. That MP will be CoD on PS alongside Warzone.

IF we do get a new 'CoD' SP campaign made and published by Xbox, that will likely be 'exclusive' to Game Pass. Its not an 'Activision' game as the owner of the IP is Xbox, the studios are Xbox studios and Xbox Published - its an Xbox game. Unless a CoD game is beneficial for Xbox to launch on PS, then forget it.

However, MS need never make a 'CoD' again - just continue to support Warzone and Multi-player forever - season after season after season. That doesn't mean you won't see any 'CoD' branded games at all, but maybe some CoD spin offs - much like Halo Wars, Forza Horizon or Gears Tactics.

They could, for example opt to make an arcade military flying combat game and have the 'CoD brand', maybe do a more 'sim' like experience in MSFS and use the 'CoD' name. They could do a third person co-op military shooter campaign or maybe War based strategy game (CoD:Wars) - just depends on what games their studio's want to make and whether or not it would 'benefit' by having the IP brand attached to it.

If Treyarch, for example, wanted to carry on making CoD:Zombie style games, but 'free' from having to tie it back to 'CoD' and 'WW2 Nazi's' as they have had to do, they could make a brand new 'Zombies' IP that will be 'exclusive' to Game Pass - in fact MS would 'encourage' them to do so as CoD:Zombies is one of the greatest 'co-op' modes ever and 'perfect' for the Game Pass model. Those CoD:Zombie fans on PS would have to Subscribe to Game Pass to play the 'new' Zombies game by Treyarch, creators of CoD:Zombies...

Counterpoint: Microsoft's acquisition of Activision was a protectionist move.

In recent interviews Phil Spencer has become wary of outside companies like Amazon, Google and Netflix moving in on the games industry.

Microsoft brought Activision with the goal of continuing to support Nintendo and Sony so it can maintain the current status quo. In effect it sees itself as the keeper of the Games Industry's integrity to outside companies that might see videogames as a 'feature' rather than a whole thing by itself.

Microsoft have been making lateral moves of late, publishing its own games on Nintendo and Sony platforms as well as pushing companies like Epic and Bungie to support cross-play between console platforms.

This may be the larger play to make sure nobody outside Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo tries to upend things or devalue gaming.

A carefully worded comment, as it does not state any of the details, which could be COD is only on PlayStation so long as Game Pass is on PlayStation. That's Microsoft's goal at the end of the day. And they'll make COD day and date on Game Pass and £70 on PS5.

@Elthesensai people are in denial because they accepted PS as the default choice of consoles every generation since PS1. While the 360 generation was an anomaly, that has been the general trend. The gaming press at large have conditioned themselves and their audiences to think that, whether they realize it or not. Moves like this challenge that perception and it bothers people, so they question what it means in spite of knowing exactly what will happen.

I still think this mostly translates to "CoD as PS players knew it isn't going to exist anymore anyway, and what CoD does exist as a F2P GaaS will probably still exist on PS.

Some think it doesn't make sense to tamper with the cash cow that is CoD, but the fact that propping up the CoD factory is most of the reason Activision was in enough trouble to sell to begin with, and if you look at their financials had expenses rivaling revenues (average $5b expenses, 8b revenue, and 2b revenue is from King with very low expenses, there was about 1b play between cost and return.....they were spending too much for what they made despite CoD being a cash cow, now wonder they were selling.)

MS didn't buy BA to keep the CoD factory as it was. No doubt CoD can remain a big mtx title and a huge draw as an F2P or long running GaaS and free up all those studios for other projects. They didn't buy the CoD factory, they bought CoD to tear it down to get the devs behind it (that didn't want to be making CoD) (even ponies should celebrate that, lol!)

Lets face it, Activision has been dead unless you're a CoD fan for a long time short of mostly PC content from Blizzard, and that's been going downhill too. They haven't even been cranking out Skylanders for ages.

Sure let them keep Call of Duty...if they let Gamepass on PS 😏 once contracts expire its only fair game from there. The ViceVersa Xbox will gladly except a Sony subscription service on xbox just like they have the opportunity to put there stuff everywhere.

After a day and all the folks pointing out the hope and desire to keep it on PlayStation i wonder if it all depends on Sony making concessions to make this a possibility. I mean it could be as simple as them hoping and desiring that Gamepass goes to PlayStation, or certain games coming over to the Xbox ecosystem in exchange.

@Banjo- amazing isn't it