Sony believes Microsoft will “continue to make sure” Activision games remain cross-platform

In the nearly $69 billion deal to buy Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard, a big question is how will Activision Blizzard games later be released, whether Call of Duty will become an Xbox exclusive? Sony recently responded to this.

“We believe Microsoft will abide by the contractual agreements and continue to ensure that Activision games are cross-platform,” a Sony spokesperson said .

It’s a very brief response, but it shows that Sony believes Activision’s games will still appear on PlayStation 5 and PS4 once the deal is closed at some point next year.

Unsurprisingly, Sony expects Microsoft to honor any existing contractual agreements related to PlayStation games, as it did when it left Deathloop exclusive to PS5, following Microsoft’s acquisition of publisher Bethesda Softworks.

When the current agreements expire, this will open the door for Microsoft to release Xbox exclusive games for the game franchises owned by Activision Blizzard.

This also applies to Call of Duty, if Microsoft adheres to a pre-existing contract then Call of Duty games in development will still appear on Sony consoles, but after that there are no guarantees.

Phil Spencer, CEO of Microsoft’s gaming division, confirmed in a statement to Bloomberg that the acquisition is not intended to lure players away from Sony’s consoles, giving PlayStation players some hope that nothing will change for Call of Duty on this system. However, Microsoft probably won’t spend $68.7 billion to continue publishing games for the PlayStation.

It’s easy to envision a future where Microsoft still maintains Call of Duty: Warzone on multiple platforms, but any other blockbuster Call of Duty games are Xbox exclusives.

Reference: TheVerge