Activision Blizzard has reportedly committed to releasing the next three entries in the Call of Duty series on PlayStation, following its buyout by Microsoft.
According to Bloomberg, this year’s Call of Duty game, which is rumored to be a new entry in the Modern Warfare series developed by Infinity Ward, will launch on PlayStation consoles. The other two are Treyarch’s project that is currently in development as well as a new iteration of 2020’s free-to-play title Call of Duty: Warzone. Both of those projects are expected to launch in 2023.
Microsoft’s Phil Spencer spoke with Sony last week and confirmed that existing contracts will be honored and that Call of Duty will remain on PlayStation. Speculation ran rampant about what Spencer specifically meant, but now we have an idea. Once these next three Call of Duty games launch on PlayStation, then Microsoft could move forward in making the franchise an exclusive for its Xbox and PC ecosystem.
This would line up with previous actions, as after Microsoft acquired Bethesda, it still honored PlayStation’s timed exclusivity agreements with Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop. Additionally, Bethesda’s upcoming Starfield will not release on PlayStation 5 and is exclusive to Xbox Series X|S and PC.
Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier further clarified that Activision’s contract with Sony is not related to the timing of when the acquisition closes and that the contract was signed before Microsoft’s announcement.
Top Activision employees are also reportedly considering not making Call of Duty an annual franchise anymore and spacing out releases. Microsoft’s historic and expensive acquisition of Activision Blizzard will cause shockwaves through the gaming industry and the deal is expected to close in between six to 18 months.
Workers at Call of Duty studio Raven Software began the process of creating a union last week, and have since called off their strike. It’s currently unknown how Microsoft’s intent to purchase Activision will affect unionization efforts.
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