The newly-minted CEO of Microsoft Gaming says he has no plans to ‘pull communities’ away from PlayStation following the Xbox-maker’s purchase of Activision Blizzard.
Phil Spencer, who was just promoted from Head of Xbox, told Bloomberg that – under Microsoft’s watch – the scandal-hit Activision Blizzard will “remain committed” to those communities who play on Sony’s platforms.
What that means exactly is still unclear. In fact the comments are probably purposely vague, as they were when Microsoft bought Bethesda in 2020.
“I’ll just say to players out there who are playing Activision Blizzard games on Sony’s platform: It’s not our intent to pull communities away from that platform and we remained committed to that,” Spencer said in an interview with Bloomberg.
Elsewhere in its reporting on Tuesday, Bloomberg claimed Microsoft planned “to keep making some of Activision’s games for PlayStation consoles but will also keep some content exclusive to Xbox”.
The announcement of the blockbuster $69.7 billion takeover has left many PlayStation gamers nervous that future instalments of staple franchises like Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot, Overwatch, and Diablo will become full-on Microsoft exclusives, only available on the Xbox, PC or where Game Pass is available?
The thought that the next Call of Duty game won’t be available on the PS5 would have previously been unthinkable to some gamers who recently snapped up the next-generation console.
Of course, the battle royale version, Call of Duty: Warzone is likely to remain on all platforms, but the successor to Vanguard suddenly seems less likely. Last spring, Microsoft revealed “some” Bethesda games would be exclusive to its platforms. It’s likely the pattern will follow here.
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Are you a PS5 owner, who has taken heart from Spencer’s comments? Or do you think the days of Activision Blizzard games on PlayStation are numbered? What price on Microsoft’s endgame being Game Pass on PS5? Let us know @trustedreviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
