Microsoft has announced a $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. However, according to the previously reached business cooperation agreement, in addition to the Microsoft Xbox platform, Activision Blizzard will still launch at least three future Call of Duty series games on the Sony PS platform.
Before Microsoft announced the acquisition, Activision Blizzard had promised to release the next few Call of Duty games on Sony consoles, according to people familiar with the matter. That includes this year’s generation of games in the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare subseries, developed by Infinity Ward Studios, and next year’s next-gen, a game developed by Treyarch Studios. The partnership also includes a planned next-generation Call of Duty: Warzone, a free-to-play game already released in 2020.
Phil Spencer, who was recently named CEO of Microsoft Gaming, said last week that he has spoken with Sony management about the Call of Duty partnership. “Following the acquisition of Activision Blizzard, I confirm that we will respect all existing partnership agreements and desire to keep Call of Duty on PS, he said on Twitter. Sony is an important part of our industry and we value our cooperation between them.
Traditionally, Call of Duty has been released on platforms such as Xbox, PC, and PS, and has achieved solid sales across all platforms. In recent years, Call of Duty has been heavily promoted on Sony’s PS Store, bundled with a major marketing campaign. The new titles released each year in the series consistently rank among the best-selling games on the PS4 and PS5 platforms. Call of Duty has also been the top-selling game in the United States for the past three years, according to market research firm NPD Group.
People familiar with the matter said that for at least the next two years, Microsoft will ensure the release of Call of Duty on the PS platform. Neither Sony nor Activision Blizzard responded to the news, while Microsoft declined to comment.
It’s unclear what the plans for Call of Duty are in the longer term, the people said. Microsoft previously expected the acquisition to be completed within the next 6 to 18 months before deciding whether to continue publishing the Call of Duty game on the PS platform in the future.
According to Bloomberg, senior Activision Blizzard employees have also discussed whether to slow down the release of “Call of Duty” and no longer release new games every year. Sony will be Microsoft’s biggest competitor in the gaming industry, and eventually, Microsoft may no longer release the game through Sony’s platforms. In some of the previous acquisitions, Microsoft honored existing contracts, but then made adjustments.