Sony spokesperson said they expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to release Activision games on PlayStation consoles.
Update: Head of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer has tweeted that Xbox will honour all existing agreements that Sony have with Activision and confirmed Xbox's desire to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation.
"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. Sony is an important part of our industry, and we value our relationship."
So what does this mean? Hard to say really. It's a very clever tweet that could mean Call of Duty Warzone will remain on PlayStation while new games might not come to Sony's platform. Also, it's possible that all Call of Duty games will email multiplatform but the word "desire" seems to indicate that Xbox might want something in return from Sony. Perhaps, Xbox Game Pass on PlayStation?
Original Story: Microsoft's acquisition of Call of Duty publisher Activision as well as Blizzard and King has shaken the gaming industry in quite a significant way.
As with every big acquisition, the first question that many players have on their mind is whether or not Call of Duty and other Activision Blizzard games will be exclusive for platforms where Game Pass exists.
At the moment, the answer is not really clear since Microsoft cannot talk about these things until the deal is closed. However, Sony have released a statement via their spokesperson, saying that they fully expect Microsoft to respect the contracts Sony agreed with Activision to ensure that their games remain multiplatform.
"We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and continue to ensure Activision games are multiplatform," a Sony spokesman said in a statement to WSJ.
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Of course, it would be surprising if Sony said anything different in this moment when Microsoft and Activision Blizzard have not revealed any specifics regarding exclusivity moving forward.
The statement from Sony also specifically mentions existing contracts, which means that once these contracts expire, Microsoft can do whatever the so desire with the IP they own, including making Call of Duty, Overwatch 2 and other games exclusive to platforms where Game Pass exists.
It's also entirely possible that Sony have struck a big partnership with Activision to keep the next five or so Call of Duty games on PlayStation platforms. Would Microsoft respect that? Guess we'll find out once the acquisition is finally completed, which should be happening by the end of the fiscal year 2023 (June 2023).
