A new report indicates that multiplatform first-person-shooter franchise Call of Duty may no longer be a yearly release. With Microsoft’s recent acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the company is looking to reduce the workload for the studios traditionally associated with the Call of Duty franchise, including Treyarch and Infinity Ward. While the deal is not finalized, high-level employees from the studios are reportedly in talks with management.
Yearly Call of Duty releases have led to poor sales and fatigue
With Call of Duty: Vanguard‘s release resulting in a monumental flop, and ongoing issues with Call of Duty Warzone, fans have been skeptical about the future of the franchise. Some attribute this to the long and harrowing work that comes with releasing a new title every year. Others have blamed poor leadership and a culture of workplace abuse and harassment. Regardless of the reasons, employees at Activision’s studios have been outspoken about working conditions and the need to reform the company’s business strategy.
After the huge news about Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, PlayStation players are wondering what will happen with future Call of Duty releases.111.7KBest Type 100 Warzone Loadout: Class Setup, Attachments, Perks
Since the news broke about Microsoft’s purchase of Activision, the gaming community has gone crazy worldwide. The deal is arguably the biggest acquisition in gaming history and was even worth more than Disney’s purchase of the Star Wars franchise (Lucasfilms).
The deal has a lot of question marks surrounding it at the moment, but for those PlayStation users who are confused as to what it means for Call of Duty on the platform, here’s all the information you need.
The deal involves games under Activision and Activision Blizzard, which subsequently means Xbox will own Call of Duty.
This took the community by surprise when it was announced and naturally, a lot of people had questions.
For example, Call of Duty have had a close relationship with PlayStation for some years now, giving them exclusive/early access to content, so what will happen after the deal goes through?
Will Call of Duty still be on PlayStation?
Xbox’s Phil Spencer, the CEO of Microsoft gaming, confirmed in a statement over on Twitter that Call of Duty will remain on PlayStation following the acquisition. Further, the Xbox CEO also confirmed that they would honor all existing agreements that Sony has with Call of Duty.
Nothing more is confirmed regarding the deal, as the companies will remain independent from each other until 2023.
This means that Call of Duty 2022 will likely retain a lot of the PlayStation exclusivity deals that have been around and PS players won’t have to worry about losing content to Xbox, at least not until these commitments and deals expire.
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Once the deal closes and the commitment to existing contracts and agreements like PlayStation’s exclusive Call of Duty content expires, it’s unclear what will happen in terms of exclusive content. However, it is clear that Call of Duty will still be released on PlayStation.
According to Tom Warren, Xbox’s dealings with Bethesda when they purchased the company could be telling of what they will do with Activision. We will likely know much more about exclusivity for other games once the deal has closed, but we could be seeing a lot of Activision games going
It wouldn’t have been wise for Microsoft to pull Call of Duty games from PlayStation, as the franchise remains the best-selling game on PlayStation platforms in the U.S. and has been for years, with Vanguard recently topping the charts for 2021.
What can be said, however, is that exclusivity deals may shift from PlayStation to Xbox after the deal is closed. Call of Duty games may even be seen on the Xbox Game Pass on release, but this is all still just speculation.
So, there you have it, Call of Duty will remain on PlayStation platforms but the exclusive content may shift over to Xbox and PC. For more, check out every Warzone weapon ranked.
Source:
Call of Duty May Drop Its Yearly Release Schedule
Will Call of Duty stay on PlayStation after Microsoft’s Activision buyout?
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