Xbox’s Phil Spencer has said that that should Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard go through, the company will continue to ship Call of Duty on PlayStation as long as there are PlayStation consoles out to ship to.
On the Same Brain YouTube channel, Spencer said (starting at 28:40), “We’re not taking Call of Duty from PlayStation. That’s not our intent. Our intent is not to do that and as long as there’s a PlayStation out there to ship to, our intent is that we’ll continue to ship Call of Duty on PlayStation. Similar to what we’ve done with Minecraft since we owned that.”
Congratulations to @InfinityWard and @Activision on the biggest PlayStation Store launch EVER for a Call of Duty game (including preorders and day one sales).
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II is now available for PS4 and PS5! pic.twitter.com/CU9GG853DI
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) October 31, 2022
He goes on to reiterate how Microsoft has kept Minecraft available on other platforms, and that Xbox could do the same for Call of Duty over the next few years. Spencer also notes that players have invested a lot of time into their respective console ecosystems and that the most notable change is that more games will be coming to Game Pass. Spencer has also said that he’d like to see the series on Nintendo Switch.
Elsewhere, PlayStation revealed earlier today that the recent launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the biggest PlayStation Store launch ever for a game in the franchise, including preorders and day one sales.
While Spencer reiterates his intent on keeping Call of Duty on Sony’s platform, PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan revealed earlier this year that Microsoft only offered three additional years for the franchise to stay on PlayStation after existing agreements expire.
Currently, the acquisition is being held up by the UK Competition and Markets authority, as well as in the city of New York and the US Justice Department. In particular, the UK competition watchdog has recently started asking for the public’s opinion about the matter. In Brazil, the acquisition has already been approved, stating that its goal is to protect the consumer, not PlayStation’s own interests.
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey