Future Call of Duty games will still come to PS5, says Sony

Time to come Call of Duty games volition even so come to PS5, says Sony

(Epitome credit: Activision)

Sony has responded to the industry-altering news that Microsoft is set to acquire Activision Blizzard in a $68.7 billion deal, and PlayStation's parent visitor seems fairly confident that the juggernaut Call of Duty serial will remain on its platform.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, a Sony spokesperson is quoted as saying, "We expect that Microsoft will abide by contractual agreements and go along to ensure Activision games are multiplatform." It'southward a curt and snappy statement but it does clearly indicate that Sony expects future Call of Duty games to make their way to the PS5.

PlayStation has had an sectional deal with the Call of Duty franchise since 2015's Phone call of Duty Black Ops 3. This long-running understanding has seen PlayStation platforms receive exclusive content and early access to DLC packs. Deals of this nature are presumably what Sony means when information technology refers to Activision Blizzard'south "contractual agreements." The current length of this agreement is unknown.

Microsoft's buy of Activision Blizzard is expected to consummate in 2023 and once information technology does the visitor will own franchises including CoD, Overwatch, Starcraft, Diablo, Crash Bandicoot, Sypro the Dragon and more. The deal has naturally raised questions about these popular franchises becoming exclusive to Xbox in the console infinite, but it appears that Sony is fairly relaxed on this potentially thorny effect, for now at least.

An image showing Microsoft to buy Activision Blizzard — (Image credit: Microsoft)

When quizzed on exclusivity by Bloomberg, the CEO of Xbox, Phil Spencer, said: "I'll simply say to players out in that location who are playing Activision Blizzard games on Sony's platform: It'southward not our intent to pull communities away from that platform and nosotros remained committed to that."

On the surface, this sounds fairly promising for PlayStation gamers hoping to still enjoy Activision Blizzard titles on their platform of choice, but information technology should be noted Spencer made similar comments in the wake of Microsoft'southward $seven.5 billion purchase of ZeniMax (parent company of Bethesda) in 2020. Withal, last twelvemonth, during E3 2021 information technology was revealed that Betheseda's start original IP in 25 years, sci-fi RPG Starfield, will be exclusive to the Xbox Series Ten, Xbox One and PC.

In that location is every possibility that Microsoft volition see out the remainder of any contracts Activision Blizzard previously agreed with Sony and will and then make the publisher's core franchises Xbox exclusive long-term. Although, this may not be the best strategy for Microsoft to adopt according to some manufacture analysts.

David Cole, of DFC Intelligence, told GamesIndustry.biz that Microsoft making Call of Duty exclusive to Xbox could raise serious legal concerns. He said: "Regulators volition take a close look and franchises like Call of Duty may not be sectional to Xbox platforms because of antitrust concerns."

Regardless of whether series like Call of Duty and Overwatch have a PlayStation future, we do know that "many Activision Blizzard games" will be coming to the Xbox Game Pass service once the bargain completes per the official announcement post. This volition be a huge boon for Microsoft's gaming subscription service and could run across the sizeable Telephone call of Duty community shift towards playing on Xbox Series 10, even if the games remain available on PS5.

This massive conquering has raised a lot of questions, and a fair amount of backlash from parties concerned about industry consolidation. In the brusque term, there appear to be several pros and a few cons to Microsoft's Activision Blizzard bargain, but only time volition tell if it is ultimately skillful for gaming as a whole.

Rory is a staff writer at Tom's Guide based in the UK. He covers a wide range of topics including tech news, deals, gaming, streaming and more than. When he's not writing hot takes on the latest gaming hardware and streaming shows, he can be found watching a borderline unhealthy corporeality of movies and being thoroughly disappointed by his terrible football game team.