Xbox chief Phil Spencer has revealed what he envisions for Call of Duty on Nintendo Switch in the event of the Activision acquisition closing. At the beginning of 2022, Microsoft announced plans to acquire Activision for just $70 billion. It was a historic deal, but it was met with tons of scrutiny from players, politicians, regulators, and of course, competitors. PlayStation has been adamantly opposed to the idea of Activision calling Microsoft its home as it would mean the publisher’s titles like Call of Duty become Xbox exclusives. Xbox has tried to mitigate these concerns by saying that it will treat Call of Duty like Minecraft, allowing the franchise to be on all platforms on the day and date. However, Sony didn’t seem convinced. Microsoft has made an official offer to guarantee PlayStation access to Call of Duty for 10 years, but it remains to be seen how the platform holder will respond.
Phil Spencer confirmed It has entered into a 10-year deal with both Nintendo and Valve to bring Call of Duty to those respective platforms. When He speaks with Shannon Liao of The Washington PostSpencer told her that this could make it appear that other platform owners are willing to work with Microsoft in the eyes of regulators. Spencer also noted that the 10-year deal doesn’t mean Call of Duty will become an Xbox exclusive once it expires, it’s just an expiration date for the sake of the document, but the plan would be to continue supporting those platforms after that. It’s also been indicated that it will take some time for a Call of Duty game to actually be put on Nintendo’s platform once the deal closes, but the plan would be to have a Nintendo version of Call of Duty ready alongside every major release once that’s done. Get into a rhythm.
I’m also pleased to confirm Microsoft’s commitment to continuing to deliver Call of Duty on @steam simultaneously to Xbox after we closed the merger with Activision Blizzard King. ATVI_AB @tweet
– Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) December 7, 2022
As of now, the Microsoft and Activision deal has not been completed. It still has a ways to go before it’s approved, but these two agreements could make a difference for regulators. If the other major platforms appear to be OK with the deal, that could be enough to beat PlayStation. However, it’s still worth noting that a Call of Duty game hasn’t been released on Nintendo since 2013, so it’s not like they’re missing out on anything before then. However, Phil Spencer has made it clear that he wants to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo Switch before these agreements.
If all goes smoothly, the deal is expected to close by June 2023. What do you think of this move from Xbox? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on @Cade_Onder Twitter.
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