Many players are anxious about Microsoft’s plan to buy developer Activision Blizzard for $70 billion announced in January, and many are worried about what the fate of Call of Duty will be and whether it will be exclusive to the Xbox in the future.
Phil Spencer, Microsoft’s head of games and Xbox, said in an interview that he intends to expand the reach of “Call of Duty” rather than limit it, as many gamers fear. Speaking at the Wall Street Journal WSJ Tech Live conference in Laguna Beach, California, on Wednesday, Spencer said Call of Duty has been so successful because it can be played on his company’s Xbox, as well as Sony’s PlayStation 5 and PC, and he hinted at the game’s future arrival on Nintendo’s Switch handheld.
Spencer said, “Call of Duty will be available on PlayStation, I would love to play it [Call of Duty] on Switch, I would love to see that game playable on many different screens, and our intention is to treat Call of Duty like Minecraft.”
Spencer’s statement above is the most direct answer to the concerns of some gamers, regulators and competitors who believe that Microsoft’s pending acquisition of industry giant Activision Blizzard will harm current and future players, but Spencer is trying to allay their fears.
Microsoft has said in past statements that it intends to “honor all existing agreements,” though it has not promised that the game will always be playable on a variety of gaming platforms. Regulators, including the European Commission, have responded, saying they remain concerned that Microsoft will use popular games like “Call of Duty” to hurt competitors.
Spencer said Microsoft sees rules set by Apple Inc. and Google to control the distribution of game apps in its app store as a major obstacle to Microsoft achieving its handheld gaming goals. The company is betting heavily on the future of mobile gaming and hopes to break the influence of Apple and Google in mobile gaming, said Spencer. We have to break this duopoly of having only two stores on the biggest platforms,” Spencer noted. We have to find a way to create more engagement and monetization across the mobile space. It’s imperative for our business.”
