Xbox and PlayStation are facing a public dispute over where Call of Duty will be playable in the future. Needless to say, Call of Duty is one of the biggest franchises in entertainment history, constantly generating billions of dollars in sales and micro-transactions. The brand only becomes more valuable with free spin-offs like Call of Duty: Mobile And the Call of Duty: War Zone Upgrading the brand and providing other sources of revenue outside of the annual major issue. It is one of the pillars of the online gaming community and has been a prominent franchise for both Xbox and PlayStation at various points in time due to its exclusive marketing deals. Now, things are changing with the imminent closure of Xbox’s acquisition of Activision.
Previously, Xbox head Phil Spencer stated that he plans to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation and ensure it will continue to be there for at least several more years. However, the head of PlayStation, Jim Ryan, has some feelings about this and doesn’t think the deal is “enough”. Talk to GamesIndustry.bizRyan has voiced his complaints about the future of Call of Duty on PlayStation and suggested that this deal will only ensure the game will be available on the platform for the next three releases, which likely means Call of Duty has the chance to become an Xbox exclusive in 2026.
“I wasn’t going to comment on what I understood as a private business discussion, but I feel the need to get things right because Phil Spencer submitted this to the public forum,” Ryan said. “Microsoft offered Call of Duty to remain on PlayStation for only three years after the current agreement between Activision and Sony expired. After nearly 20 years of Call of Duty on PlayStation, their proposal was inadequate on many levels and failed to take into account the impact on our players. We want to ensure that PlayStation players continue to enjoy the highest quality of the Call of Duty experience, and Microsoft’s proposal undermines this principle.”
It’s not yet clear if Xbox hasn’t written that Call of Duty will remain on PlayStation after the marketing deal ends – Xbox may want flexibility in the future on how the game is released – or if Xbox really does plan to make it exclusive within a few Years. This may not be the end of the story. As for how Spencer and Xbox will respond, that remains to be seen.
What do you think of the future of Call of Duty? Let me know in the comments or hit me up TwitterCade_Onder.
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