Phil Spencer promises to end platform-exclusive COD content
Activision / Microsoft / SonyMicrosoft now officially owns Activision Blizzard, yet Xbox head Phil Spencer reassured COD players on other platforms.
On October 13, Microsoft finally completed its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. After a year of clearing legal hurdles, UK regulators finally put the last puzzle piece in place and approved the deal.
The deal has significant implications for the Call of Duty and Overwatch franchises, alongside other titles like Diablo. PlayStation fans feared that the deal would put an end to games coming to their console of choice. However, Microsoft reached an agreement that’ll keep Call of Duty games on PlayStation consoles for the foreseeable future.
Xbox users held out hope that COD would immediately make the jump to Game Pass. However, Activision Blizzard extinguished that excitement by announcing that its game catalog would not come to Game Pass until 2024. Additionally, if players on Xbox thought they would also get an advantage over other platforms when it comes to COD, Phil Spencer has other ideas.
Phil Spencer denounces platform-exclusive COD content
During a podcast, Spencer confirmed that all platforms will have 100% parity on content for Call of Duty.
The Xbox executive claimed: “We have no goal of somehow using Call of Duty to get you to buy an Xbox console.”
PlayStation-exclusive skins in Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone and the MW3 beta coming to PlayStation first exclusively went against what Spencer believes in.
The Xbox head argued: ” We have been on the other side of some of those skins; even this beta wasn’t on Xbox the first week. I don’t think that helps the community. I don’t think that helps the game. So it’s the focus if you are a PlayStation player, Nintendo player, PC player, or Xbox console player, I want you to feel 100% a part of the Call of Duty nation.”
It remains to be seen what other implications the Activision Blizzard purchase has on Call of Duty. But we will have a better idea once Modern Warfare 3 officially releases worldwide on November 10 and over the course of the upcoming game’s life cycle.
