Microsoft boss claims Call of Duty will not be an Xbox exclusive if Activision takeover goes through

Xbox boss Phil Spencer has said that Call of Duty will remain on Sony’s PlayStation 5 as Microsoft's court case to get the acquisition of Activision Blizzard approved by regulators continues.

Microsoft has been in court opposite the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for the past two days as they've been trying to block an injunction which is preventing them from closing a deal with gaming publisher, Activision.

The deal between Microsoft and Activision Blizzard began back in January 2022, with it being reported to be worth $68.7 billion.

However, the FTC claimed in court that Microsoft – through owning the huge games production company – is likely to ‘have the ability, an incentive, to harm competition in various markets related to consoles, subscription services and the cloud (for gaming)'.

And Spencer recently took the stand on Friday (23 June) to talk about the uncertain exclusivity status of The Elder Scrolls VI and the role Starfield played in the acquisition of Bethesda.

The Xbox boss has promised to keep COD on Playstation

So does Microsoft actually want to keep the Call of Duty franchise under lock and key?

Apparently not.

Spencer said: “I think as we’ve seen even in preparation for this that gamers are an active and vocal group. Us pulling Call of Duty from PlayStation in my view would create irreparable harm for the Xbox brand.

"I would raise my hand. I will do whatever it takes. We have no plan. I'm making a commitment standing here that we will not pull Call of Duty - it is my testimony - from PlayStation.

"As you said, Sony obviously has to allow us to ship the game on their platform, but absent any of that, my commitment is, and my testimony is that we will continue to ship future versions of Call of Duty on Sony's PlayStation 5."

As per IGN, this statement lines up with his previous stance on Call of Duty's exclusivity, saying that last year that the game will be continued to be shipped to Playstation 'as long as there is a Playstation to ship to'.

And Microsoft revealed in court documents that they had 'lost the console wars' against Playstation and the Nintendo Switch.

Sony

Some have noted, however, that he specifically stated 'PlayStation 5' - potentially ruling out PS6.

The PS6's release date recently surfaced in public documents from Sony - with the console seemingly intended to be released sometime after 2027.

However, what makes the availability of these documents so strange is that why are they even available?

Well, that's because the documents are being made public due to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) in response to Microsoft’s pending acquisition of Activision Blizzard, as reported by PlayStation Lifestyle.

Although you'd think that precious details regarding the release window of Sony’s next-generation console would be kept in-house.