Image: Activision
Call of Duty will stay on PlayStation consoles for the next 10 years.
Xbox Game Studios head Phil Spencer announced this week that Microsoft and Sony have signed a ‘binding agreement’ to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation platforms. Microsoft’s all-but-confirmed acquisition of Activision Blizzard will likely happen this week, after stirring up fears that the Call of Duty franchise could go Xbox-exclusive.
Axios journalist Stephen Totilo has also made it known that Microsoft and Sony’s deal is expected to last for 10 long years, though the deal won’t come into effect until Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard becomes official. This deal would ensure that all future Call of Duty games developed and released over the next 10 years won’t be Xbox-exclusive. Nintendo doesn’t get left out, either - the company signed a similar 10-year deal with Microsoft to keep Call of Duty on Nintendo devices earlier this year.
Sony’s main point of contention against the Xbox-Activision acquisition was that losing Call of Duty would be a significant blow to their gaming division. In response, Xbox promised last year that Call of Duty would stay on PlayStation consoles, “as long as there's a PlayStation out there to ship to." This is more of a compromise on Sony’s end than an absolute victory however, seeing as the company has a history of shelling out for PlayStation-exclusive content in Call of Duty games to entice players to their platform.
This deal will expire in 2033 unless both companies come together to renew it, so PlayStation could still end up losing Call of Duty someday. Last week, the FTC lost its case against the Microsoft-Activision acquisition, paving the way for the deal to go through successfully by its deadline of July 18. UK regulator the CMA has extended its deadline to block or approve the proposal to August 29, meaning that it won’t be able to stop the deal from going through either.