Xbox’s Activision Blizzard merger is finally done, but that doesn’t mean that Phil Spencer is suddenly ready to reverse course and make Call of Duty an Xbox exclusive. Speaking on the Official Xbox Podcast, Spencer reiterated that the platform’s goal is “100 percent parity” on content across all platforms.
“The players on PlayStation and in the future on Nintendo… I want you to feel 100 percent part of the community. I don’t want you to feel like there’s content you’re missing out on, skins you’re missing out on, timing you’re missing out on. That’s not the goal,” Spencer said. “The goal is 100 percent parity across all platforms as much as we can for launch and content.”
Phil Spencer on Call of Duty: He confirms that there will be 100% parity on content for Call of Duty on all platforms
“We have no goal of somehow using Call of Duty to get you to buy an Xbox console.”
Confirms there won’t be a platform exclusive beta anymore for Call of Duty. pic.twitter.com/xxEJQj5edn
— CharlieIntel (@charlieINTEL) October 17, 2023
That means no exclusive betas, skins, or other content will be reserved for Xbox players. This follows a 10-year deal with Sony to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms.
Spencer clarified that there may be technological issues that separate individual platforms — an apparent nod to the Switch. However, from a content perspective, Spencer says that Xbox’s ultimate goal is to make everyone feel like they’re part of the “Call of Duty nation” no matter what platform they’re on. He also subtly criticized PlayStation’s previous exclusivity deals with the franchise.
“We have no goal of trying to use Call of Duty to try and get you to buy an Xbox console,” Spencer said. “We’ve been on the other side of some of those skins and times… Even this beta, it wasn’t on Xbox the first week. I don’t think that helps the community, I don’t think it helps the game.”
The battle over Call of Duty
Call of Duty was at the center of the battle over the Activision Blizzard merger that raged through most of 2023, with outgoing PlayStation president Jim Ryan claiming that he believed Xbox intended to use Call of Duty to “disadvantage PlayStation in terms of the availability or the manner in which the game is made available on PlayStation consoles, and to drive PlayStation gamers to the Xbox platforms, specifically Game Pass.”
Xbox, for its part, has been steadfast in saying that Call of Duty will not be made exclusive on any one platform.
Spencer touched on numerous other topics during the interviews, including why Activision Blizzard games won’t be available on Game Pass in 2023 and whether or not Xbox has done a good job of revisiting franchises.
For now it’s business as usual Activision prepares to launch Modern Warfare III. The beta kicked off on October 12 and ended on October 16, with the release date set for November 10. You can read our initial review impressions right here.
Kat Bailey is IGN’s News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.